The Third's Sacrifice
by Cataphract
Summary: What would happened if the third Hokage sealed the Kyuubi in Naruto instead of the forth? How differently would things turn out?
1. Prologue

Prologue

Namikaze Minato sat in a quiet room behind his desk. A single candle was burning to provide the forth Hokage with light. All over the room, there were strips of papers laying everywhere. Three days ago everything he knew changed. Three days ago, the Kyuubi attacked Konoha. The forth Hokage's first thought was to head into battle right away to defeat it, or at least force it to leave the village. Minato headed into battle upon the back of Gamabunta, but after seeing first hand the devastation the demon was causing he retreated to from another plan. After three days, he had finally done it.

"This is it." He stated to himself as he looked over the scroll he had just written. "This has to be it." He let out a sigh.

"May I enter?" A voice accompanied a knock at the door of the small room.

"Of course!" The young Hokage called out. The door slowly opened to reveal the third Hokage. "What can I do for you, Sarutobi-sensei?" Minato asked his elder, the man he had succeeded as Hokage.

"How goes your research?" The old man asked as he walked into the room carefully stepping over the scrolls that were scattered on the floor.

Minato let out a sigh. "I have it." He ran his hands over his face. "I think." He smiled at the older man.

"That is fantastic!" Sarutobi exclaimed. He noticed that Minato didn't share his excitement.

"There is a catch." Minato leaned back in his chair. Sarutobi nodded. Of course he knew of the price that had to be paid. To use a Technique of this type, you had to sacrifice yourself. "It's not what you are thinking, I would gladly give my life for this village. In order for the jutsu to work, you need to seal the demon in a newborn child. Anything else and the demon would kill its host and go free again."

Sarutobi stayed silent for a moment. "There is no other way?" He broke the minute long silence.

"None." Minato affirmed. "I have wasted too much time, I must stop this demon before more die." Minato stood and began to gather the scrolls he had written.

"Wait a moment, Minato." Sarutobi placed a man on the younger man's shoulder. "Allow me to go in your place. I'm an old man. You are still young and you have a family that is going to need you. With what your child is going to endure, he will need you too."

Minato stood in the doorway of the room. "I cannot ask another to make a sacrifice I am unwilling to make." Was all he said before leaving the room. Sarutobi stood for a moment as he watched the forth Hokage walk out of his sight.

Sarutobi closed his eyes. "Forgive me Minato, but I have to do this." He said as he dropped his Hokage robe and hat. "Summoning Technique!" He shouted after he bit his thumb to draw blood. A poof of smoke filled the room as Sarutobi stepped back.

"What is the meaning of this, Sarutobi?" A deep voice spoke from inside the cloud.

"Sorry, my old friend, but there is one last thing you must do for me." Sarutobi said as the body belonging to the voice walked from the cloud. "There isn't much time." Enma nodded his head before turning into a staff. Sarutobi picked the staff up and chased after Minato.

Sarutobi caught up to the forth Hokage as he was exiting the Hospital with his new born son. "What is your plan, Sarutobi?" The monkey king said. "You can't possible aim to fight him."

"No." Sarutobi spoke as he watch the forth Hokage hold his son before placing him in a crib to carry him. "I will make this quick." Sarutobi said as he produced a clone and had it transform to the appearance of himself in his Hokage robes. The clone walked out into the street to talk with Minato.

"Come to talk me out of it again, sensei?" The forth asked without looking up.

"I came to wish you luck, Minato." The clone of the third told him. Minato noticed something was wrong, but it was too late. The last thing he remembered was a blow the back of his head and everything went black.

With a poof of smoke, the clone of the third Hokage disappeared, and the real one walked to the crib where his son was laying. The young boy was quietly sleeping with a blanket wrapped around him. Sarutobi touched the boy lightly on his cheek before he bit into the tip of his thumb again. Performing the jutsu, a much large cloud of smoke appeared then the one from before.

"Sarutobi-sama." A booming voice sounded. The voice shook windows in the builds around the clearing they stood in.

"We have one last fight, my friend." The third Hokage scooped up the now crying child and jumped to the back of the large gorilla that stood before him.

"I am at your service, Sarutobi-sama." The beasts voice shook the surroundings again, and it also caused the unconscious Hokage to stir.

"Quickly, before he wakes up." The former Hokage ordered and the gorilla armed with two large katanas and fully body armor took off towards the fighting. "You won't be fighting the demon, you just need to get me close enough and give me time to prepare."

"I will do everything I can to do just that." The large gorilla shouted as he slammed down into the battlefield. The kyuubi stood tall several hundred yards away. The space between them was covered in debris and the bodies of fallen Leaf Shinobis.

"I will need a few minutes to prepare!" Sarutobi shouted over the roars of the nine-tailed demon.

"Very well!" The gorilla shouted back. The kyuubi attention was locked on the new addition to the battlefield. Drawing both his katanas, the gorilla prepared for anything the beast would do. On his back, the former Hokage read of one of the scrolls he ad taken from Minato. He grimaced as he looked over them, it was true what Minato had said. It appeared that Minato had discovered a way to seal the demon within the first day of his studying, the remainder of the days had been spent on trying to figure out away to make it so he could do it without a child. Sarutobi rolled out the main scroll, in the center was the spot where the child had to lay. Sarutobi gathered the crying boy from his crib and held him in his arms.

"I am ready, get me closer!" The gorilla charged the kyuubi and came crashing down just in front of it. The third quickly put the child in the center of the scroll and started to cast the technique required. "This is it my friend!"

XXX

Minato's eyes slowly opened. He was lying on his back in front of the hospital. The back of his head ached, and he could feel the warmth of blood on his back. Sitting up he felt the area that hurt, blood was still following. After regaining his senses, he looked around. The crib that is child was in was gone. There were large foot marks in the dirt road. He remembered Sarutobi approaching him, and then everything when black. As he rose to his feet, he heard and ear shattering roar. Judging the distance and direction, he used one of the many seals he had over the village and vanished from in front of the hospital.

XXX

All the shinobi on the battlefield watched as the large monkey appeared before them. They shouted and cheered. "It's Sandaime!", "He is here to fight!". When the gorilla landed within one hundred feet of the kyuubi, the pure chakra that the demon let off made Sarutobi fall to his knees.

Fighting the chakra, the third rose to his feet and glanced back at the child with a smile on his face. He turned his face towards the demon as he let out a roar that made him stumble backwards. "Fuuinjutsu Shiki Fuujin no jutsu!" Sarutobi shouted as he formed the hand seals.

XXX

Minato arrived on the battlefield to see the kyuubi was no long there. At the front of the clearing, he saw one of his predecessors summons and he vanished again. When he appeared in front of the massive monkey, the beast was holding something in each hand. He held his hands before the forth Hokage opening the right one first. Being held was Minato's son, the seal on his stomach was all the Hokage needed to see to know what was in the other hand. The lifeless body of the third Hokage was placed before him and the summon vanished into a cloud of smoke.

The forth Hokage set his newborn son down next to the deceased Hokage as survivors from the battle approached him. As they saw who was standing at the front of the area, they all dropped to one knee. "Please." He spoke quietly. "Rise, right now I am in your debt." All the shinobi looked up to see the leader of there village, the strongest shinobi any of them have known, drop to his knees and put his forehead on the ground. "You are all heroes of Konoha." He picked his head up to see the shocked looks on the faces on the ones before him.

Several of the shinobi in the front of the crowd walked over to help the forth up. "Hokage-sama, what are your orders?" One of them asked. The mans face was covered in blood on the left side and one of his arms hung limply at his side.

"Please, look after my son. I am going to carry Sandaime back to the village." The crowd parted as the Hokage walked towards the body of the third. Minato watched as a person he recognized picked up his son. "Take him to his mother, Kakashi."

"Of course, sensei." Kakashi told him as he started to make his way to the village. Minato held the third Hokage in his arms and walked towards the village. All the surviving Shinobi followed after the Hokage with most of them stopping to pick up the body of a fallen friend to carry back to the village.

A/N: Hello, thanks for reading. I know that there are probably stories that follow this same plot device, but I haven't actually read one. So I decided to write my own. Second chapter is done, but I have to proofread it.

Thanks for reading.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Namikaze Naruto was now six years old and was just about to start his first year in the academy. He entered the academy with great expectations to live up to what is father was. He was the son of a legend. Namikaze Minato was considered the strongest shinobi alive, and Naruto felt the weight of that weighing down on him even at the age of six.

"Naruto!" His mother called out. It was the first day of class, and she was going to wake him up. "Naruto?" She slowly opened the door to his room. The bed in his room was empty. "Where are you?" She called out in the dark room.

"Something the matter?" She felt a pair of hands wrap themselves around her waist. She spun around to see her husband with a towel wrapped around his neck and no shirt on.

"Naruto isn't in his room." She gave her husband a kiss, and just as she was enjoying it, the sound of crying came from a room down the hall.

"I'll take care of it." Her husband said after he broke the kiss. "Check out back." He gave her another kiss on the cheek before he walked down the hallway towards the crying. Namikaze Minato, strongest shinobi in the world, was no match for his two year old daughter. She would look at him with those eyes, and he was melt and give her anything she wanted.

"Naruto?" His mother called out the back door. The yard was huge, and he could be anywhere.

"Mom?" Naruto walked around the corner of the house. He wore a white tee shirt with black pants on.

"There you are!" She walked over and hugged him.

"I couldn't sleep, so I went for a walk through the woods." Naruto returned the hug. Kushina put an arm on her sons shoulder and led him back inside. She had breakfast all ready for him. Minato sat at the table with his sister, Tami, in his arms.

"Hey dad!" Naruto called to his dad.

The elder Namikaze grinned at his son. "Eat up quick. Not much time until you have to be at school." Naruto jumped into the seat next to his dad and started to inhale his food.

"Naruto! Chew!" His mother scolded at him. He shrunk back from her with a nod. His dad chuckled at him as he took a drink from his coffee. "You better eat quick too, Minato!" She turned in scorn to her husband.

"Yes, dear." He replied as he put his daughter down to eat his breakfast. Naruto let out a laugh at how the great Yellow Flash of Konoha submitted to his wife so obediently. "Don't laugh. It will happen to you one day too."

"Yeah right!" Naruto shouted at his father.

XXX

Hatake Kakashi leaned against the wall on the roof of a building in Konoha. He let out a sigh and closed his book. "It is impossible to read with this thing on." He removed his ANBU mask to readjust his forehead protector that covered his sharingan. Today was the first day of a several year assignment assigned to him by his sensei. His job was to watch Naruto's every move outside of the Namikaze estate until he graduated the academy.

Kakashi's eyes drifted over the massive house in front of him. Naruto would be leaving soon, his father was going to escort him this morning, but it was still his job to watch over him from a distance. Just as Kakashi's mind was beginning to wander, he noticed movement from the house. His sensei dressed in his full Hokage garb, and Naruto walked out of the house. Minato had an arm on Naruto's shoulder as they walked past the main gate of the estate. The Hokage's eyes glanced up to where Kakashi stood, the white haired ANBU captain gave the forth a quick wave before he disappeared out of sight.

"Are you excited, Naruto?" Minato turned his attention back to his son and ruffled his hair.

"Of course!" The young boy gave his father a grin. The walk to the academy was no different then any other walk with his father. People stopped to thank his father for something, or they would just bow to him. It was the life of being the son of a Hokage.

Naruto and Minato arrived that the entrance to the academy. Many other first year students were there with their parents as well Several of the parents that were shinobi came up and greeted his father. Some were genin, some were chuunin, and only a few were jounin. It didn't matter though, he knew all there names, and he asked questions about their families or friends. They would politely reply before excusing themselves. At around seven o'clock, the head teacher of the school, Umino Iruka, came out to greet them.

"Welcome all new students and future shinobi of Konoha. I'm glad to see that this class looks to be eager and prepared to learn." Iruka eyes moved over the parents that stood with their children, and of course he stopped when he saw the Hokage. "All the students can accompany me into the school, we will get them into their classes for the next several years." With those words, the parents let their children leave and follow Iruka into the academy. The forth caught the attention of the teacher and beckoned him over.

"Good to see you again, Iruka-san." Minato gave the younger man a smile.

"You too, Hokage-sama. Is there something I can do for you?" Iruka returned the smile.

"Yes." Minato put an arm around the mans shoulders. "Please don't show Naruto any special treatment. I want him to have to earn everything he will get. I don't want him to be given anything because of who I am."

"Absolutely, Hokage-sama. I understand." Iruka gave the Hokage and bow before he left to return to the students.

XXX

In a dark room, three people sat at a table. Several folders laid on the table. "What do we do about this?" One of them spoke, it was a male voice.

"What can we do? They are planning civil war. We have to strike." Another man spoke.

"It won't be easy to destroy them. They are the elite of Konoha." This time a woman spoke.

"From the inside then. We must plant one of our own." The second man said.

"We will leave that to your ANBU." The woman replied.

"Do we tell the Hokage of the plan?" The first man spoke. The room was silent for a few moments.

"No, he will object and he is too strong to go against in this. We will do that as an act on our own." The second man said.

"Whoever we plant in the clan will have to know, should he fail we will not acknowledge anything about this." The first man said.

"He will understand."

XXX

Naruto had taken a seat in the middle of the room. He was seated next to Aburame Shino, a quiet boy that kept to himself, and Yamanaka Ino, a blond girl with a big mouth. Naruto frowned at the prospect of sitting next to her for the next year. She had already attempted to get very friendly with him by placing a hand on his thigh as she introduced herself. Around the room, all the children were laughing and talking until the door swung open and Iruka walked through. Another shinobi followed behind him.

"Quiet down." Iruka stepped in front of the class. "For the next several years, I will be your instructor. You all will stay in the same class to develop friendships and work as a team. When you graduate, all of you will be assigned into teams with people in this class." Naruto sat back in his chair and looked around the class. There was a Uchiha, a Hyuuga, and the son of the Hokage, it was quite the group. After Iruka explained to them about what the next few years would be like, he started going over the schedule they would use over the course of this year. After all of the schedules were taken care of, he told them he would be calling them up one by one to perform a test that he would use to place them in groups for the rest of the year. A weaker student with a stronger student.

One at a time, the class got up to do the test. Iruka had a list of things for them to do and based on how many from the list you could do, he would assign you are rank in the class. First on the list was to perform a clone of yourself, nearly everyone in the class had been able to do that. Second was to use the replacement technique for on themselves. About half the class was able to perform that. The third test was to make another clone, and then have it transform into another person. Only two people in the class could do that.

Namikaze Naruto walked to the front of the class to perform the third part of the entrance test. "Bushin no jutsu!" He called out after making the hand seals. A single clone appeared next to him. The clone stood there for a second, before it called out, "Henge no jutsu!" There was a poof of smoke and after it cleared a perfect copy of the forth Hokage stood there.

"Very well done, Naruto!" Iruka said to the boy as the blond gave a grin to everyone in the class. The second person to be able to do it was Uchiha Sasuke. He made the clone, and then he had his clone simply transform into a copy of Iruka. "You too, Sasuke. Well done." Sasuke smiled at his teacher before returning to his seat. After the rest of the class attempted the test, Iruka began to assign pairs for the students. Sasuke was paired with Yamanaka Ino for which she got glares at from all the girls in the room, and Naruto was paired with Hyuuga Hinata. Naruto was a little shocked to see that the quiet Hyuuga was struggling with such simple techniques.

"H-Hello Naruto-kun." She spoke in a voice that was barely a whisper. Her eyes never making contact with his.

Naruto took a seat next to her, "Hi, Hinata-san." He gave her a big grin which caused the girls pale cheeks to turn a tint of red. Naruto hoped that the shy girl would open up to him eventually.

XXX

It was now several months after the start of the year at the academy. Naruto and Sasuke were still tied for number one in the class. Hinata had improved with the help of Naruto, he had made sure to invite her to his house after every day so that they could work together on training If Hinata was shy around Naruto, meeting the Hokage for the first time in person she nearly passed out.

"Hello, Hinata-chan." The smiling Hokage said to her as she walked in the door behind Naruto.

"H-H-Hokage-sama." Was all she could muster to say. Minato place a hand on the girls shoulder and dropped to one knee.

"There is no need to be so shy. I don't bite." He looked her in the eyes. Under his gaze she shrank even more and looked away. Minato let out a soft chuckle and stood up. "Well Naruto-kun, if you guys want I can train with you for a few hours on the weekend." He looked over at his son, who Hinata was now hiding behind. The six year old's eyes lit up at that.

"Really dad?!" He nearly shouted. The forth Hokage gave a nod to his son, who ran over and hugged his waist. "Thank you dad!" Naruto finally broke the hug after a knock came from the door. Minato walked to the door and saw who was behind it.

"Naruto, can you and Hinata go to the kitchen? There is someone here who I have to speak to in private." He asked. Naruto gave his father a nod before grabbing Hinata's hand and leading her to the kitchen. Minato opened the door to reveal a ANBU standing behind it. "Come in." He said as he moved aside to let him come in.

The ANBU walked into the house and stood at attention in front of the Hokage. "What are your orders, Hokage-sama?" Minato let out a sigh.

"Don't be so formal, Kakashi-kun." Minato said as the ANBU removed his mask. Kakashi's eye was half open as it always was when he wasn't fighting.

"What are your orders, sensei?" Kakashi slumped down into a chair in the living room of the Hokage's house.

Minato walked next to him and sat down. "This assignment takes priority over your other mission. Tenzo will be handling that. Starting immediately you are to watch over the Uchiha for anything suspicious."

Kakashi raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

"With the death of Uchiha Shisui, I believe something is going to happen." Minato leaned back in his chair.

"They have already question Uchiha Itachi in the death. It appeared to be a drowning." Kakashi told his sensei.

"Is anything ever what it seems when it comes to the Uchiha?" Minato gave his student a small smile.

"You have a point there. Should something happen, what am I to do?" Minato grabbed a box from under a table in front of the chair he was in. He opened it and removed a familiar looking kunai.

"Use this." Minato tossed it to Kakashi. "Start this surveillance right away." Kakashi nodded.

"Of course." Kakashi gave his sensei and bow before leaving.

XXX

The three council members sat in the dark room again. They waited for the man that they had planted in the clan to arrive. The knock at the door signaled the man had arrived. The door slowly opened revealing a person wearing an ANBU mask on the other side.

"Please, come in." The woman of the group spoke to the man.

"Sit." One of the men spoke to the ANBU. The man took at seat at the end of the table across from the three members.

"Thank you." His voice was calm. No emotion at all.

"Tonight is the night."

"Understood."

"Remember if you fail, we will not help you."

"Understood."

"Do not fail us, Itachi."

"I won't."

XXX

Kakashi had been watching over the Uchiha compound for a week now. Nothing of any significances had occurred, but he was still assigned here on an A-Class mission. The sun had been in the sky for about 45 minutes when he noticed a child run from what of the houses. It was Uchiha Sasuke, a boy considered a genius and given who is brother was, he had a lot to live up too. The young boy kissed his mother good bye, a former Jounin herself, and he ran down the road past the normal villagers of the Uchiha. The ones that didn't become shinobi ran the village. Bakers, blacksmiths, and all matter of other jobs.

Several hours had passed and it was just an average day in the compound. The only thing that caught the attention of Kakashi was the arrival of Uchiha Itachi. They had worked together on a few missions with the ANBU before, but they never really got to know each other. Itachi was a quiet boy, a few years younger then Kakashi, and he was the second youngest person to ever graduate the academy.

Kakashi decided to follow Itachi from a distance. He was considered the strongest of the Uchiha, and Kakashi had no idea if he had to fight him could he win. Itachi's walk threw the village brought him to the entrance of the compound as the sun was setting, and it is was then that Kakashi noticed something was wrong. The younger man walked to the gates with a hand on his katana he had on his back and with two quick slices, he cut down the two guards at gate. Kakashi reached into his kunai pouch and removed the triple pronged blade. In a swift motion, he tossed the kunai at Uchiha that was standing over the bodies of the men he just killed. The kunai zipped past the head of Itachi causing him to look in the direction it came from. He noticed Kakashi standing on a nearby rooftop.

XXX

"I need you to sign this, Hokage-sama." Mitokado Homura, one of the elder members of the council in Konoha.

"What is it?" A sighing forth looked up at the old man.

"Nothing important, just a land dispute with some local lords." The former teammate of the third Hokage was trying to keep him occupied. Danzo made it clear that should the Hokage learn of what was about to happen, he would stop it and perhaps kill Itachi. Minato leaned back in his chair and sighed. He wish he could go home right now. Today was the day that Naruto, Hinata, and himself were suppose to train. Five miles away, the throwing of one of his three pronged kunai caught is full attention.

"Excuse me, Homura-san." Minato stood up and vanished from the office. The older man cursed.

Five miles away, Hatake Kakashi and Uchiha Itachi stood ten yards apart. "Kakashi-sempai, what brings you to your little corner of the village?" The emotionless voice of Itachi disturbed his elder.

"I was in the neighborhood. Thought I would stop by." Kakashi said with a smile. Itachi's eyes turned from black to red. Kakashi started to remove the cover over his own sharingan, when someone appeared in front of him. "Sensei?" Kakashi asked, but the blond hair and the robe he wore gave it away.

"Hokage-sama." Itachi bowed. Itachi respected the forth more than anyone.

"Itachi-kun, what is the meaning of this?" Minato saw the bodies behind the boy and the blood dripping from his sword. There were more bodies then when Kakashi had thrown the kunai. Several Uchiha shinobi jumped into stop Itachi and were easily cut down.

Itachi carefully remember the story he was told to tell. "This clan is a disease to the world. I am simply removing that disease. I don't want to, but if I must I will kill you too, Hokage-sama." Itachi's eyes never left the person known as the Yellow Flash.

"A disease? You are going to kill your entire clan?" Minato was shocked.

Itachi nodded. "It must be done for the good of the village. The Uchiha are corrupting everything they touch. You may be feared all over the world, but with my sharingan I should be able to counter your speed." Again, his eyes never left the Hokage. He would not be caught by surprise by this man. One moment the forth was standing before him, the next he could feel the cold blade of a kunai pressed against his throat.

"Your sharingan could counter my speed, if I was actually physically moving." Minato spoke from behind Itachi. Kakashi blinked in surprise. No matter how many times he saw his sensei do it, it always amazed him. One moment he was a few feet in front of him, the next he was twenty yards away with a kunai to Itachi's throat. This all happened in less then a second.

"That is impossible." Itachi stammered as he felt the Yellow Flash grab the hilt of his katana.

Minato forced the Uchiha to his knees and placed a cloth over his eyes taking no chances with the sharingan he commanded. "You just do not understand the jutsu. I do not move any part of my body to move." Minato didn't want to explain the technique that made him who he was. Kakashi understood Itachi's confusion. When Kakashi first saw his sensei use it in the war, he assumed that he was just moving faster than the eye could see, but he slowly began to realize that it wasn't that. Minato had explained that he was moving through space and time, not physical space. There for it would be impossible to intercept him or prevent him from doing it. He can appear anywhere within his field of view and anywhere he has one of his scrolls.

Several ANBU arrived on the seen seconds after the forth subdued Itachi. "Hokage-sama!" Minato looked up with a smile.

"Place him under arrest. Do not under any circumstance remove the blindfold." The forth ordered. The four ANBU that arrived grabbed Itachi and dragged him to their headquarters. Minato dropped to a knee by the bodies of the men and women Itachi had killed. A few of them were shinobi, but some of them were civilians. Minato shook his head, how could someone do this to his on kinsmen.

"What is this!?" An enraged voice roared from behind Itachi. Minato turned his head to see the head of the Uchiha clan and the father of Itachi, Uchiha Fugaku. With him were several members of the police force that the Uchiha ran.

"These are the people that Itachi killed." Minato said calmly as he stood up to face the man.

"Itachi killed them?! You are lying!" He shouted and took a step towards the Hokage. Before he could blink the Hokage was surrounded by five members of the ANBU.

"It is like he says, Fugaku-sama." A Uchiha wearing a leaf forehead protector.

Fugaku's eyes darted to the man that had his head bowed. "Kuno?!" The enraged man gasped when he say the boys face. There was a deep gash going down his face covering his left eye make it useless. "Who did that to you?"

"Itachi did, Fugaku-sama." Uchiha Kuno bowed even lower to avoid the wrath of the head of the clan. Fugaku narrowed his eyes at the boy and glanced at the Hokage before spinning away and walking off.

"Kakashi." Minato turned to his student. The white haired jounin looked up at him. "Bring a squad to take these bodies to their famlies." Kakashi nodded before he jumped off. Minato let out a sigh before leaving the compound. Itachi had always been a nice kid, something wasn't adding up.

XXX

"He failed, but Yondaime didn't kill him." Danzo stood in the office of the main advisor to the third Hokage.

"Him not being dead means nothing. Should he break during interrogation it could be disastrous." The advisor Mitokado Homura spoke.

"We should eliminate him so he can't be broke."

"Root?"

"There is no other way."

XXX

Days later the funeral for those that had be killed by Itachi was held. The Hokage made a speech to the families of the deceased. He spoke of them as people and as friends. He told the families that every day the memory will live on in the hearts of everyone in Konoha.

Unknown to the Hokage a few miles away in the headquarters of the ANBU, a man who looked like a normal member of the ANBU approached the cell that held Uchiha Itachi.

"You aren't permitted to be here." The guard outside the cell told the man.

"My apologies." The man politely bowed before turning around. The ANBU guard watched the man walk away. Just as he was about to round the corner, he quickly turned and threw a kunai at the guard who had now looked away. The kunai struck the guard in the neck and he fell to the floor. "I am sorry." The man pulled the kunai out of the guards neck and grabbed the keys that hung on his waist. He placed the key into the door and turned the knob. Nothing happened.

"Did you think it would be that easy?" Another ANBU leaned against the wall down the hall.

"No." The intruder turned. "Kakashi-sempai." He gave the whited haired man a bow.

"You know me, but I don't know you." Kakashi moved from the wall and began down the hallway.

"I've never actually met you. I only know you by reputation." The man was overly polite. He was trying to lull Kakashi into relaxing. Not to be fooled Kakashi causally moved his hand up acting like he was scratching his head, but he removed the cover from his sharingan.

"I'm honored." Kakashi replied. The jounin stopped a few feet from the man.

"How did you know I was here?" The intruder asked as he gripped at a kunai attached to the back of his belt. Kakashi noticed and lunged at the man with a kunai in hand. The intruder blocked Kakashi's attack before attempting to make an attack of his own. Kakashi grabbed his wrist and twisted forcing him to drop the blade. With the man disarmed, Kakashi forced him to his knees and put his own knife against his throat.

Kakashi press a button on the wall and in seconds four more ANBU were around him. "By the way, I knew you didn't belong because I know everyones mask. I didn't know yours." The defeated man laughed as he was taken away.

"The legendary Copy Ninja does not disappoint." The prison continued to laugh as he was dragged down the hallway. Kakashi turned to the cell, the door was undisturbed and the seal place on it was unchanged, but he had to know for sure. Kakashi made a few hand seals before he placed a hand on the door, it emitted a light glow and the latch clicked.

"Kakashi-sempai." Itachi looked up. Although he wore a blindfold, he still knew who entered the room.

"Someone was attempting to rescue you or kill you." Kakashi told the younger man before he closed the door and reapplied the seal.

Several hours later, Kakashi stood before the Hokage making a report on the event. Minato leaned back his chair and closed his eyes. "Assassination? Or rescue?" He asked.

"Unknown." Kakashi explained. "He is being interrogated as we speak."

"Keep me updated." The forth ordered and with that Kakashi bowed and left the room. The blond haired man looked up at the clock, "Damnit, Kushina is going to kill me!" He quickly jumped out of his chair and rushed home to avoid the wrath from his wife.

XXX

Five years later, Namikaze Naruto was the head of his class, number one in the school, and he was about to become a genin. The test he was going to take was just a formality. Several of his instructors had wanted to give him the test when he was eight, but his father insisted he stay for the full term. No one from his class had graduated early either. Three, including Naruto, could have though. Uchiha Sasuke was just as respected as Naruto in most areas, and Hyuuga Hinata was better at taijutsu then even Naruto. She also had access to her bloodline already. Something that the Uchiha heir didn't have yet.

The young Uchiha heir walked down the road behind his mother and father. Behind him was one of his uncles. They were on their to the yearly visit they had with his older brother Itachi. Sasuke only came because his mother asked him. Sasuke wanted little to do with the traitor as possible. He wanted to become a good shinobi. His father on the other hand dreaded these visits more then anything. Every time he saw Itachi he asked him, "How could you fail us like this?" Itachi never replied. Sasuke didn't know if he didn't have an answer or if he just did want to give his father the pleasure of hearing his reply.

"Sasuke-kun?" His mother called out knocking the boy from his thoughts.

"Yes?" He gave his mom a smile. He loved her very much. When his father never used to give him the time before Itachi was locked away, his mother was always there for him. She was a shinobi just like everyone else in his family. She wasn't on active duty anymore though. There was a rule stating that any mother with two or more children would be removed from active duty if both children entered the academy.

"Is something the matter?" She always asked him as when they visited his brother. The young heir noticed his father's head move slightly to glance at his youngest son.

"I just don't like going to see him." He replied.

"But he is--"

Sasuke cut her off. "I know he's my brother, but he betrayed the village and the clan. I don't want anything to do with a traitor." His mother nodded slowly. She understood, but she still loved her eldest son. Sasuke's father spun his head completely around to look at his sun. His sharingan was showing and his fist was shaking in anger. Sasuke felt fear as his father stopped walking to look at the boy.

His mom placed a hand on her husband's shoulder instantly calming him. She whispered something in his ear that Sasuke couldn't hear, and his sharingan faded to black and he continued to walk. It took several more minutes before they arrived that the prison of Konoha. It was in the basement of the ANBU's headquarters. They never normally allowed visitors to anyone held here, but the leader of the Uchiha had a lot of power.

Sasuke stood in the back of the room as his mother talked to her other son through the glass. His eyes were always blindfolded. They didn't trust him enough to let him see even his family. Should he even attempt to remove the blindfold, he would have been killed on the spot. After a few minutes, his mother called him over.

"He wishes to speak with you." She told him and kissed him on the forehead. Sasuke took a seat as his mother lead his father and uncle from the room.

"Hello, little brother." Itachi spoke through a hole in the glass. Sasuke didn't reply. "I know you are there. My eyes may be covered, but I can still feel you."

"What do you want?" Sasuke's voice was cold.

"Do you hate me?" Itachi had a hint of pain in his voice. There was no reply. "I have something I want to tell you." Sasuke rose an eyebrow. Why would his brother need to tell him anything?

"What is it?" His voice still cold, but he was intrigued.

"Do not trust our clan." Itachi spoke slowly and very clear.

"What?" What could this be about?

"They are planning something terrible, you must not trust them. Do not tell anyone I told you this or they may--" He stopped talking as he heard the door behind Sasuke open.

"You betray me to them and now you betray me to my own son?!" Sasuke's father roared at his oldest.

"I am your son too. Or have you forgotten?" Itachi was calm.

"You are no son of mine. You are trash!" Fugaku yelled as he pounded on the glass.

"Sasuke, close your eyes please." Itachi ordered his little brother, who shut his eye very tight. Before the ANBU guard could even react, Itachi had his hand free and the man pinned against the wall by his neck. "I will not hurt you." The terrified ANBU nodded as Itachi let him go. Fugaku's eldest son turned his attention back to his father who was standing in horror. Itachi's eyes closed slowly as he poured chakra into them. Opening his eyes again, his father backed away in terror at the site of his son's eyes trying to look away but it was too late.

"You can't!" He shouted before he was pulled into another world.

"In this world." Itachi's voice rang through his father's head like canons going off. "I control everything."

"How do you have it? How do you have the Mangekyo Sharingan?!" His father cried out. There was no immediate reply. Fugaku watched as his son appeared before him.

"For the next seventy two hours, you will know what it is like to die. For the next seventy two hours, you will see what it is like to be a piece of trash." Itachi's voice literally made Fuguka howl in pain as it felt like he was being stabbed over and over again with every word.

Sasuke heard his father cry out in pain and then it was over. "Father?" Sasuke overcame the fear and slowly opened one of his eyes. His father was laying on the floor motionless. His back rose and fell so he was still alive, but he showed no signed of life other than that.

"Sasuke." Itachi said in between heavy breaths. The younger brother slowly rose until his eyes saw Itachi. It appeared he had been crying blood. "Do not trust the clan. They are the real traitors. Not me." After the last words, Itachi fell from his chair passed out from exhaustion. The terrified ANBU that Itachi let live slowly walked over to the collapsed man. He had a smile on his face even while unconscious.

"Sasuke-kun!" The young heir heard his mother call out as she ran in the door kicked down by his uncle. She embraced the boy in a massive hug as his uncle checked his father.

"What the hell happened?" His uncled looked at him.

"Itachi told me to close my eyes." Sasuke was visibly shaken. He had never felt so much fear as when he heard his fathers screams. The ANBU guard had reapplied Itachi's blindfold and bound his hands again.

"You!" His uncle shouted. "What happened?" He was talking to the guard.

"I don't know." He explained. He tried to tell the furious Uchiha what he saw, but it made no sense to him.

"Did Itachi's eyes appear different from a normal sharingan?" His uncle demanded. The guard nodded his head. His uncle opened his mouth to speak but before he did he turned and ran from the room. Several ANBU came into the room after his uncle ran out to help his father. When they rolled him over, his eyes were open and unblinking, but he didn't respond to anything they did. The men eventually decided to just take him to the hospital.

The ANBU guard picked the unconscious Itachi up and threw him over his shoulder to return him to his cell. "We may call on you later to get a statement." He told Sasuke before walking out of the room. Sasuke was still shaking in fear as his mother hugged him and stroked his hair whispering things to try and calm the boy.

XXX

Minato sat in a meeting with the head of the Hyuuga clan. He was asking the Hokage to have his daughter and the forth's son on the same team. They were very close friends these days, and Hiashi saw that his was making his daughter try hard.

"You know, Hiashi-san." Minato looked the man in the eyes, his cold, emotionless eyes. "Being that they are both at the top of the class, they would not normally be paired up."

Hiashi nodded his head. "I understand, Hokage-sama, but I believe that it would work to their advantage to be on the same team. You can bend the rules just this once, can't you?"

Just as Minato was about to respond, a shinobi came bursting through the door. "Forgive me for intruding, Hokage-sama." He bowed his head deeply.

"What is it?" Minato asked giving the newcomer a warm smile.

"There was a... incident with Uchiha Itachi at the prison." The man looked up. Minato noticed that for the first time since he came in, Hiashi visibly tensed at the name. It was well know that the two most powerful clans in Konoha did not like each other.

"What kind of incident?" The forth asked.

"It is unknown at this time, but Uchiha Teyaki is on his way here. I do not know what he plans to tell you." The shinobi bowed his head.

"Thank you, you are dismissed." Minato told him and the shinobi left the room. "Hiashi-san, it appears I am going to have to deal with this. I will consider your request, and I do agree that it will help both of them if they are on the same team." Hiashi gave the Hokage a slight bow hearing that he agreed with him before getting up to leave.

"Farewell, Hokage-sama." He said before turning to leave. Moments after the head of the Hyuugas left his office, the brother of the head of the Uchiha burst in.

"Hello, Teyaki-san." Minato gave the man a smile.

"You must order the execution of Uchiha Itachi immediately!" He shouted, but the calm demeanor of the Hokage did not change.

"Why is that?" Minato motioned for the man to sit.

"He is too dangerous to be left alive. He has developed an extremely powerful verison of the sharingan. He could possible beat even you in a fight with it." Teyaki spoke as he sat in the chair.

"How did he obtain this new sharingan?" The forth Hokage asked. Teyaki hesitated. Minato took this as him not wanting to say. Perhaps he didn't want to reveal the secret or maybe it was something he knew the Hokage wouldn't like. "Well?" A hint of impatiences was on his voice.

"Well..." Teyaki clearly didn't want to share the secret, but he had now waited too long to claim he didn't know. "You have to kill someone." Minato rose an eyebrow. "You have to kill a person very close to you."

"Family, or friend?" The forth asked.

"What does it matter?! He must be killed!!" Teyaki yelled as he rose from his feet.

"I will take what you have said into consideration." The forth Hokage said as he too rose to his feet.

"Consideration?!" Teyaki roared as he fought the urge to reveal his own sharingan. "You need to kill him. He is too dangerous to be left alive!"

"I will consider it." He repeated his earlier sentiments. Teyaki turned in disgust.

"If you will not do this..." He did not finish before he left the room. Minato took a seat behind his desk again. Never seemed to be a dull day as Hokage.


	3. Chapter 2

**A/N: Thanks for all the reviews.**

* * *

**Chapter 2**

Hinata decided last night that no matter what happened today, she would accept it. She really hoped to be placed on the same team as Naruto-kun, but she knew how they formed teams. They always had balanced teams and with her dramatic improvements since she started, she would likely be put on a different team then Naruto. She let out a sigh as she took her seat in the class, Naruto wasn't here yet.

It was a few minutes before the start of class and when they would take the exam to become genins. Everyone knew that for three students it was merely a formality, but they had to take it regardless. Naruto was the son of the Hokage and number one in the class and the school. Sasuke was the heir to the Uchiha clan and considered a genius even among his own clan. And there was Hinata, the heir to the Hyuuga clan. She hadn't really gotten to know Sasuke very well, but what she did know he was a fairly nice boy considering what he has been through. When they first started his brother was arrested for the murder of nearly a dozen of his own clansmen, and now on a visit to see his brother his father was attacked.

Sasuke hadn't been in class for the past few days, he was recovering from the shock of it all. He was in class today though because it was the exam. Hinata wondered what kind of person he was. He was extremely quiet and given the fact that many of the girls in the class were obsessed with him, he handled it extremely well.

Deep in her own thoughts, Hinata didn't realize that Naruto had taken a seat next to her. "Morning, Hinata-chan!" He said in his normally excited voice.

Hinata jumped at the sound of Naruto's voice and her cheeks turned a bright shade of red. "Good morning, Naruto-kun." She replied quietly.

"Get any sleep last night?" Naruto sat back in his chair stretching his legs under the table. Hinata shook her head. "Me neither." The excitement of the day was too much for Naruto to relax and get any amount of good sleep.

Before they could talk anymore, Iruka-sensei came into the room. "Today is the day for the exam to become genins." He told his class with a smile. Everyone in the class got quiet as Iruka began to explain the test, after all twenty students took the test they would get the rest of the day off from class until they meet their senseis. Teams would be assigned to those that pass later that day. One by one Iruka called students to the front to do the exam. It was much like the test they took to determine ranks in the class at the start, but it was a bit more intense. It required the students to preform a series of techniques from memory very quickly without messing them up.

After all the students had taken the exam, Iruka marked in his book who passed and who didn't "Those that passed, please return to this room in three hours to be assigned to teams." There were nine students that passed. Naruto was of course one of them. The young Namikaze met up with Hinata on the way out of the academy.

"Hinata-chan!" He called to the girl as she walked out of the building.

The purple haired girl ran over to her friend. "What's up, Naruto-kun?"

"Want to goto Ichiraku for some ramen for lunch?" Naruto asked. They had several hours to kill before they were assigned to teams, and they both knew that this may be the last time they got to spent time together for a long time.

"Sure, Naruto-kun!" Hinata nodded her head as Naruto grabbed her hand to lead her to the ramen bar. The act of physical contact outside of a spar caused her face to turn a dark shade of red. Naruto led Hinata through the town to his favorite restaurant.

"Yo, Naruto!" The man that owned the ramen stand greeted the soon to be genin. "Ah! And Hinata too! Sit, sit!" He offered up two seats in the center of the bar.

"How's it going, old man?" Naruto grinned as the man grimaced.

"I'm not that old!" He yelled as he turned his head towards the blond haired boy. "What are you two having?"

"I'll have three bowls of beef!" Naruto drooled over the idea of eating ramen.

"A bowl of miso for me please." Hinata said quietly.

"Alright!" He turned his back towards the noodles.

"Hinata-chan, do you think we will be on the same team?" Naruto asked the girl next to him. He hadn't really thought of what would happen if they weren't on the same team. It would suck, he knew that much. Him and Hinata had grown close over the past few years, and if they were assigned to different teams it would mean they wouldn't be able to see each other as much.

"One bowl of shrimp, please." A voice came from behind Naruto, and he could hear the old man's reply confirming the order. Naruto spun his head around to see his father standing there.

"Dad!" Naruto jumped from his seat to give the man a hug. Hinata turned around and gave the Hokage a smile.

"Hello, Hokage-sama!" Hinata bowed politely.

"How are you, Hinata-chan? Did you both pass?" Minato took the seat next to Naruto.

"What kind of question is that?! Of course we passed! Right, Hinata?!" Naruto's excitement was contagious. Hinata found herself laughing at Naruto's antics as he told his father of how he passed the test. She hoped with all her heart that she would be on the same team as him.

"Here you go, Naruto-kun!" Ayame, the daughter of the old man, slid his and Hinata's ramen bowls in front of them. "Yours will be ready in a minute, Hokage-sama." She bowed to him, and Minato returned the bow with his own and a smile.

"Dad!" Naruto managed to get out between shoveling noodles in his mouth. "Are me and Hinata-chan going to be on the same team?" He managed to stop eating long enough to get that out.

"I just finished a meeting with your sensei actually." Minato smiled at his son's reaction.

"Who is it!?" Naruto exclaimed. Minato didn't say a word as he waited for his ramen. "Come on dad! Tell me!" It was killing the new genin that his father knew but he wasn't saying anything.

"Naruto-kun, we will find out in a few hours." Hinata whispered in his ear, but that just made the twelve year old boy fidget even more.

"You are going to make me wait a few hours?!" Naruto crossed his arms across his chest and turned from his father with a frown. "Meanie!" He turned back to shout at the Hokage, who was trying his best to keep a straight face. Hinata was trying to suppress a laugh herself. Naruto could be so cute when he was frustrated. Hinata gasped at her thought, quickly turning away from Naruto to hide her blush. Naruto hopped out of his chair after he finished the last of the ramen he ordered. The young blond wore a black jacket that was open in the front. It had a orange accent on the underside of the sleeves and on the front around the zipper. The collar rose up to stop at his at the bottom of his cheeks, but with the front open you could clearly see his face. Underneath the jacket, he wore a black teeshirt with a orange swirl in the middle of it. His pants were a light tan color with pockets all over his thighs.

"Where are you going, Naruto-kun?" Hinata looked up at the boy as he walked from the store, he didn't reply. Hinata frantically searched her pockets for money to pay.

"I'll cover it." Minato placed a hand on the girls shoulder with a smile. "Go after him." Hinata nodded with a smile before she leapt from her chair and chased after Naruto. The blond was nearly down the street when she exited. She jogged after him to catch up wondering what was wrong.

"Naruto-kun!" She called out to him. Naruto stopped walked to turn his head back, he didn't seem upset as he gave her one of his trademark grins. "Why did you run out all the sudden?" Naruto got a wicked grin on his face. "What are you planning?" Hinata gave her friend a weary look.

Naruto continued to walk until he arrived at the Hokage tower, it was busy this time of year with all the potential jounin instructors running around. Naruto snuck past the secretary that worked for his father with Hinata right behind him.

"I can't believe I'm going along with this." She whispered to the mischievous boy in front of her. He just turned his head enough so she could see he was grinning. Hinata shook her head as Naruto approached the door to the office of the Hokage. He turned the nob, it was unlocked. Slowly he opened the door and slid in. He moved quietly around the desk to find what he was looking for.

"Where could it be?" He sucked on his lower lip thinking on where his father would put it.

"Hurry up!" Hinata poked her head into the room. Naruto nodded with a smile before returning to his search. He reached for a handle on one of the desk drawers but something caught his hand.

"Not doing anything bad, are you?" Naruto jumped at the voice. He spun around to see his father standing behind him.

"What? No, of course not!" Naruto pulled his hand free and put it behind his back. Hinata heard Naruto raise his voice and her heart stopped. Did they get caught by someone? She wanted to look but was afraid she would get in trouble.

"Did he talk you into this, Hinata-chan?" A voice came from the door causing her to jump from the wall.

She turned around to see the person the voice came from. "H-H-Hokage-sama!" She stuttered out. "I tried to talk him out of it!" Her first thought was to try and get Naruto out of trouble "He just wanted to know who his sensei was going to be." She looked at the ground as she pushed her fingers together. There was silence for a few moments before she felt a hand on her shoulders.

"Don't worry, he's not in trouble." Minato could see the relief on her face. "Naruto!" He barked out and his son came scurrying out of the office. "Take this pretty lady somewhere nice for the next two hours and stay out of trouble." He spoke in a stern voice. Hinata tried to suppress the blush that was forming at being called a "pretty lady".

"OK, dad." Naruto said in defeat. He was so close to figuring it all out.

* * *

Sarutobi Asuma, Hatake Kakashi, and Yuuhi Kurenai all sat around a table in a special arena of the barracks for jounin. It had a private gym, food court, everything you could want, and it was off limits to all shinobi below the jounin rank.

"Looks like we are the three jounins getting teams this year." Asuma took a poof from his cigarette. Kakashi was just retired from the ANBU, and this would be the first team he had taken. Kurenai was a new jounin, only promoted a few months ago, so she had never had a team before. Asuma was just the son of the third Hokage, he had several teams before. All of them had gone on to be at least chuunins.

Kakashi looked up from his book, a new Icha Icha. "Yep." He said a single word before look back into the pages. Asuma didn't know much about the world famous shinobi other then what everyone else knew. The man was a mystery. He was considered probably the strongest jounin in the village but it appeared like he didn't have a care in the world. Not that Asuma could complain, he was just as strong as Kakashi. Good genes is what he accredited too. Son of a Hokage, can't get much better then that. Kakashi came from just as good genes, but no one ever talked about his father. The legendary White Fang of Konoha.

The copy ninja had only had been out of the ANBU for about a month. He didn't really talk about it, but everyone knew he had left upon request of the forth. Whether it was to take his son on a team or to be the sensei of the Uchiha of this class, no one knew.

"Kakashi." Asuma spoke with a cigarette hanging from the corner of his mouth. "Have you asked to take on the Uchiha from this years group?" Smoke flowed from his mouth as he spoke.

"It's a logical choice for me to be his sensei. I've had my sharingan longer then some of the Uchiha themselves." Kakashi closed his book. His sharingan was a source of much distress for the Uchiha clan. They had even demanded that he have it removed, but the Hokage denied the request.

"What do you think of the Hokage's son?" Kurenai spoke for the first time since they sat at the table.

"He is good. He could have graduated years ago, but the Hokage didn't want him too." Kakashi told them. Asuma nodded know what its like to live in the shadow of your father.

"I was excepted to succeed my father. Things didn't work out though." Asuma took another poof from his cigarette, it was a long one and it felt good. Washing away the memories of a childhood where his father wasn't around much.

"I know that feeling." Kakashi somberly nodded. Kurenai and Asuma looked up at him. He didn't talk about his father at all, and here he was sharing some of his feelings. Kakashi touched his face.

"Something on my face?" He asked the two jounins staring at him. They both turned away from him with a slight blush. "Just about time to head over to the academy I guess." Kakashi rose to his feet and stretched his legs. Asuma and Kurenai followed him out of the private area. When Kakashi started in the opposite direction of the academy Kurenai stopped as Asuma kept walking.

"Let him be." Asuma told her before she could say anything.

"But... We are suppose to be there in ten minutes." Kurenai looked at the son of the third.

"He has someone to talk too." Asuma turned and walked towards the academy. Kurenai had a confused look on her face as Asuma and Kakashi walked in different directions. She nodded her head and followed the Sarutobi towards the academy.

* * *

Naruto and Hinata walked into the class to see the rest of the group of students that passed. Most of them were friends with Naruto, except he hadn't really gotten to know Sasuke outside of a few spars they had. Choji and Shikamaru were sitting next to each other, while Sasuke was surrounded by Sakura and Ino. Kiba was sitting in the back of the room with his dog, Akamaru, on his head.

"Oi, Naruto!" Kiba shouted out getting the boys attention. "Learn anything from your dad?" Naruto frowned and shook his head. Kiba just smirked at him. Everyone turned their attention as Iruka walked into the room.

"Quiet down now." He looked through a folder he held. "I will be assigning you to your teams now." Everyone fell quiet and sat down. This was the moment they had been waiting for. As Iruka readied himself, his assistant walked through out the class handing out their hitai-ates.

Naruto wrapped his around his forehead and Hinata helped him tie it in the back. "You look great, Naruto-kun!" She smiled as he look at his reflection in the window of the class.

"Thanks, Hinata-chan." He replied as the quiet Hyuuga wrapped hers around her neck and tied it in the back.

After the hitai-ates were handed out, Iruka walked in front of the class. "Now. This is moment you have all been waiting." Iruka flipped open the file. "The first team is Aburame Shino, Yamanaka Ino, and Akimichi Choji." The three that had there names called rearranged themselves so they were sitting together. Ino put herself between the two boys and let out a sigh as Sakura stuck her tongue out at the blond.

"Shut up forehead girl." She move her mouth but made no sound.

"The next team is Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura, and Inuzuka Kiba." Sakura threw her arms into the air as Ino slammed her forehead into her desk. The three that had their names called moved to a group of seats next to each other. Sakura took a seat next to Sasuke and every few minutes she inched it closer to him.

"And the last team Nara Shikamaru, Hyuuga Hinata, Namikaze Naruto." Hinata nearly fainted when she knew she would be on the same team as Naruto, and the blond genin himself actually hugged the poor girl making her go stiff like a board. Naruto released the girl from his hug and noticed she wasn't moving.

"Hinata-chan?" He waved a hand in front of her eyes.

"What did you do, Naruto?" Shikamaru slouched into the chair next to him. Naruto shrugged at the black haired boy that sat next to him. Slowly Hinata came to her senses.

"Naruto-kun?" She said in a voice that was just above a whisper.

"We are on the same team, Hinata-chan!" Naruto put his hands on her shoulders shaking her a little bit. She quietly looked him in the eyes with a small tint of red under her eyes.

Iruka cleared his throat to get the attention of the new shinobis. "And now we will assign what jounin will be teaching you. Team 7 Sasuke, Kiba, and Sakura, you will have Sarutobi Asuma as a sensei. Team 10 Shino, Ino, and Choji will be assigned to Yuuhi Kurenai. And Team 6 Naruto, Hinata, and Shikamaru will be assigned to Hatake Kakashi."

Naruto didn't know what to think about this. He knew Kakashi a little bit. He knew he was a student of his father, and he knew that he was an ANBU captain when he was younger. Naruto knew he had retired from the ANBU a few months ago.

The other senseis had already arrived and taken their teams to start their careers as shinobi. Naruto, Hinata, and Shikamaru sat in the room waiting for Kakashi for another hour before the former ANBU arrived. The gray haired jounin walked into the room, the mask hid his mouth, but it appeared he was smiling.

"Follow me." He told the three genin in a chipper voice.

* * *

Kakashi listened to his students talking. He could already tell that Hinata liked Naruto just a bit more then a friend, Naruto was mostly oblivious to this, but he wasn't completely unaware. He could also tell that Shikamaru felt kind of like an outsider in this team, and that didn't surprise Kakashi one bit. It had been a long time since a Shika wasn't on a team with an Ino and a Cho.

It was decided that Shikamaru would work better in this team with his intelligence. Kakashi would be able to mentor him fairly well too, he wasn't as smart as his Shikaku, but he could hold his own in a game of Shogi.

Kakashi let out a sigh as he stopped. "Looks like this will be my first real team." He whispered to himself. "Alright!" He quickly turned to face the three behind him. "How about we start with some introduction! Likes, dislikes, plans for the future all that good stuff." Kakashi sat down on a bench in the park he led them too. His three students stood before him a little unsure what to think about this man.

"Well, my name is Namikaze Naruto! I like my family, my teammates, and ramen! I dislike people that hurt anyone I care about. My plans for the future are to succeed my father as Hokage!" Naruto grinned after his speech. Kakashi nodded with a smile under his mask.

"How troublesome." Shikamaru let out a sigh. "I'm Nara Shikamaru. I like watching clouds and shogi. I dislike doing anything hard. My plan for the future? Haven't really thought about it." Shikamaru slouched back on to a concrete wall behind him. Kakashi nodded at the lazy boy.

"Um, my name is Hyuuga Hinata. I like my teammates, and anything that Naruto-kun likes. I dislike anyone that tries to hurt Naruto-kun." She finished. Kakashi rose an eyebrow as the girl turned away with a blush thinking about her plans for the future. Kakashi stood up to address his team.

"Well, that was... interesting." Kakashi put his hands in his pockets. "We don't have much time to do anything today, but we will meet up at 10 A.M tomorrow morning to start training. I will do some skill tests to see how far along each of you are, and if we get finished quick enough we can go in for our first mission as a team." Naruto's eyes brightened at that. "Nothing to serious. For the first few months we won't even leave the village. We will help people with chores and such." Naruto's smile turned into a frown.

"Everyone has to start somewhere, Naruto-kun." Hinata mentioned to him. Naruto nodded.

"Well, until tomorrow morning!" Kakashi smiled before he vanished until a swirl of leaves.

Shikamaru gave his two teammates a wave and started to walk away. "Hey, Shikamaru!" Naruto called out and the boy spun around on his heels. "My family was having a party tonight to celebrate graduating, you can come and bring you family if you want." Naruto explained. Shikamaru stood there for a moment without a reaction.

"Even though it is troublesome, I'll be there." He turned again and walked off. Naruto shouted his farewells and Shika threw a wave over his shoulder.

"You too, Hinata-chan. You are invited too! It is at six." Naruto told his best friend.

"I'll ask my father when I get home." That was the best she could do. Her father was, well for lack of a better word, strict when it comes to somethings. Naruto accepted his friends answer and headed off to his house. There were a few hours before the party was going to happen, so he had to clean up and maybe get a bite to eat. Hinata made her way home too, she lived on the other side of town from Naruto.

* * *

Shikamaru walked through the streets of Konoha causally staring up at the sky. Clouds looked nice today. He was a little troubled today though. All the years of his life he heard his father talk about the Ino-Shika-Cho teams that had been in the years past. This would be the first generation that the children from the three families were in different teams. At least Naruto was nice enough to invite him over to dinner for the party. He wonder if they would be upset if he invited Choji. Maybe.

Shikamaru walked to the front door of his families house. It was an average house, not too big and not too small. It was just how he wanted to live. Just be average. Everything else in life was just too troublesome. Shikaku, his father, was in the kitchen with his mother when he walked in the house.

"How did today go?" His father asked without turning back to face his son. He seemed to always know when he was there.

"Troublesome," Shikamaru dropped into a seat at the table.

"Who is your sensei?" His father asked as he cut up some vegetables for dinner.

"Hatake Kakashi," His son replied. His father actually turned around to face him this time.

"Kakashi, eh? He's a good man, if not a bit lazy." Shikaku smiled. "I guess you two have something in common." The elder Nara turned around to chop the vegetables again. "Who is on your team?" While he thought he knew the answer, he would be surprised to learn the truth.

"Namikaze Naruto and Hyuuga Hinata." The chopping once again stopped as Shikaku turned around.

"What?" His father twirled the knife around his finger absentmindedly. "You aren't with Choji and Ino?" Shikamaru shook his head. "First time in forty years..." His father's voice trailed off. "Oh well, this team may be good for you." His father nodded to himself.

"Well, before you get to into chopping food up, you should know that we were invited to a party at Naruto's house tonight. Celebrate graduating." Shikamaru relied the invitation.

"Well alright! Means I don't have to cook!" Shikaku placed the knife down.

"That is very nice of them to invite us." His mother spoke for the first time.

"It's quite troublesome." Shikamaru got up and went to his room.

* * *

Hinata made her way through the large Hyuuga compound. It was the biggest clan house in the village, even bigger than the Uchiha's. Hinata was still a quiet girl around the house, she didn't like to draw attention to herself. She was even a little afraid of the branch family members. While her father had taught her the technique to activate the seal placed on their foreheads, she never once used it. She was too afraid to hurt them.

"Excuse me, Hinata-sama." A quiet voice jolted the girl from her thoughts. "I am deeply sorry." The person that spoke to her put her head to the floor. This was the way it was around the house, the branch family was terrified of the seal on their foreheads and did everything to keep from having it activated. Hinata nearly gasped at the girls reaction. The bowing girl felt a hand on her shoulder and pushed herself on the floor even farther.

"Please," Hinata whispered. "Stand up." The branch family member looked up to see Hinata on her knees in front of her with a pleading look on her face.

"I cannot show you disrespect, Hinata-sama." The girl was at least looking at her now. It was a start.

Hinata grabbed the girl's shoulder and pulled her to her feet. The scared girl kept her eyes on the floor begging for mercy. "Did you want to tell me something?" Hinata gave her a smile.

"Y-Yes. Hiashi-sama wants you to goto his office." The girl bowed deep.

"Thank you." Hinata put a hand on the girl's shoulder giving a small squeeze before walking away. It was disturbing to the girl how much her own family feared her. These people are related to her, and they would never make eye contact. Hinata knew what it was like to be unwanted. Up until about a year ago, her father had given up on Hinata being the future leader of the Hyuuga and was starting to groom her sister for the job. When Hinata started to have training sessions with Naruto and the Hokage, her father had a mild interest but was still unimpressed as she rose through the rankings in her class.

Between Naruto and Sasuke, it was hard for her to get to the top of the class. Naruto was always number one, and Sasuke was right behind him. In her final year, Hinata had become third in the class and expected her father to be happy for once. That was not the case. As much as she had improved, it was never enough for him. She would bring his grades to him in his study and he would stare at them for a few moments before telling her, "Third. You are ranked third." He would ball the report card up and discard it without saying a word to her afterwards.

Hinata let out a sigh, it seemed like nothing she did was ever good enough for him. She held her reserve and knocked on the door to his office before entering. "Hello, father." She bowed to him. He wasn't facing her, but she knew he could see her. "I was told you wanted to see me."

"Who is your sensei?" He asked with his voice as cold as ever.

"Hatake Kakashi." She noticed him twitch when she said the name.

"And who is on your team?"

"Namikaze Naruto and Nara Shikamaru." The anger she felt from him relaxed when she told him the names. It appeared he was satisfied with the team.

"You may go." He still hadn't turned to face her. After a few seconds when she hadn't left, he spun around. "Is there something else?" His lifeless eyes pierced through her.

"Um..." She hated when she shuttered in front of her father. "Naruto-kun invited us to a party this evening at his house. To celebrate graduating." She whispered as she avoided eye contact with him. She could feel his anger rise up again.

"And why would I celebrate you being third in your class?" He turned around facing away from her. Hinata's heart sank, it was never good enough. "You can go celebrate your efforts if you wish, but I will not be going." Hiashi ended the conversation and Hinata left the room. In the hallway just outside his door his propped herself against the wall, her hands were shaking.

"Calm down." She whispered to herself, it was unbecoming of the heir to the clan to be so scared after meeting with her father. Hinata made herself appear unaffected by the talk with her father as she made her way through the house. She figured she had enough time to take a shower before the party at Naruto's house.

Inside the office with his bloodline activated he saw his daughter shaking. He truly did love her, but he felt the only way to help her become stronger was to push her in the only way he knew how. He was treated the same way as a child, if he wasn't first in something, he would be berated, and he hated to do the same thing to his child. It seemed to work though, since he had stated he had given up on her becoming the heir to the clan, she had worked doubly hard to succeed. She even had private training sessions with the Hokage and his son. Hiashi just hoped years from now when Hinata was leading the clan, she would have the heart to forgive him for how he treated her.

* * *

Namikaze Tami walked throughout the Namikaze house, she was searching for her mother. The girl's instructors had told her they believed she was ready to become a genin now, even though she was only eight. The girl's red hair, which she got from her mother, was tied up in a tight knot on the back of her head. She wore a loose fitting white long sleeved shirt and a pair of black shorts that ended mid calf.

"Mom?" The young girl called out looking through the house. She figured it would be better to ask her mom before her dad. Her father had made her older brother stay in the academy for six years, when he could have become a genin after one year.

"In the kitchen!" She heard her mother call out. Tami walking down the steps that led to the main floor. Kushina was busy preparing food for the party they were having tonight.

"Mom." The younger sister of Naruto took a seat on the counter top next to her mother. Kushina looked up at the young girl, she knew she was going to ask something. "Iruka-sensei says I'm ready for the genin exam now." Kushina shook her head and returned to chopping up some potatoes. "What?!" Tami crossed her arms with a pout.

"Your father wouldn't let Naruto take it early, why would he let you?" Kushina says what Tami thought she would say.

"But daddy loves me more." She grinned at her mom causing the older woman to start laughing.

"You will have to ask him when he comes out." She heard the front door close.

"Ask dad what?" Naruto came around the corner with his hitai-ate on his head. Kushina ran over an gave her son a massive hug.

"I am so proud of you, Naruto-kun." His mother put two hands on his shoulders and looked him in the eyes.

"Was there any doubt that I would pass?" He said with his trademark grin. Tami stuck her tongue out at him with his mother's back turned to her. The new genin glared at his younger sister.

Kushina made her way back to the food she was preparing. "Did you invite your new teammates?" She asked the question to Naruto without having to look over her shoulder.

"Yeah. Shikamaru said he would come, and Hinata-chan said she would ask her father." Naruto explained as Tami was laughing at Naruto calling her "Hinata-chan". Naruto causally walked by his sister and kicked one of her dangling feet. "She could kick your butt!" Naruto shouted as he ran from the kitchen before he could be yelled at.

"Take a shower before they get here!" He heard his mother call to him and he ran up the steps with his sister in tow. She attempted to tackle him when he goto the top, but when she grabbed him he disappeared in a cloud of smoke and she was holding a laundry basket. She threw the basket at his bedroom door before stalking down the stairs. Naruto leaned against his door trying to contain himself as he heard his sister stomp down the steps. He could hear his mom yelling at her about making too much noise, and he couldn't contain himself anymore.

* * *

Hinata walked the trip across town by herself. With her father not going, it was unlikely anyone else in the house would have gone, so she just decided to go by herself. It was about a ten minute walk to Naruto's house. She didn't know if she was suppose to bring anything, so she just jarred some of her healing cream she had made and decided she was going to give it to Naruto as a present. About half way to his house, Hinata found herself walking pass the Nara household. She wondered if Shikamaru had already left.

"Hinata?" She heard a voice call out to her. She spun around to see the lazy black haired boy behind her with his parents.

"Hello, Shikamaru-san." She bowed her head to him. She gave a deeper bow to the elder Naras with her new teammate.

"Mom, dad, this is Hinata. She is one of my teammates." Shikamaru told his parents as they exchanged pleasantries with the young Hyuuga. The four of them walked through the village to Naruto's house for the party. Hinata smiled as when she saw the house, she could hear some music playing and there were already people at the house.

* * *

Tami searched tirelessly for her father. She had to ask him and just get it over with. She knew what the answer would be, but it never hurt to ask. The party had already started and the house was filling with people from all over the village.

"Looking for me?" She heard a voice say from behind her as she walked down a hallway.

"Dad!" She rushed to him and embraced him in a massive hug. The young Hokage let out a soft chuckle as he returned the hug.

"I heard you had something to ask?" He headed back into the room he had just come from. Tami poked her head in to see not one, but two shinobi that were considered legends all over the world.

"Oh, I didn't want to interrupt you." She bowed her head.

Minato gave me a soft smile. "It is OK, Tami-chan. What did you want to ask?" He handed one of his guests a bottle of sake.

"Well, Iruka-sensei wants me to take the genin exam next week." She explained. She hoped he would agree to it but doubted he would.

"I didn't let your brother take it early." Minato reminded her of what was already in her mind.

"Well, everyone knows you love me more." She smiled at him.

Minato let out a laugh. "I'll have to think about it." Tami was satisfied enough with that and left her father. Minato turned back to his guests. "Sorry about that, sensei."

"How many times I have told you not to call me that, kid?" Jiraiya let out a sigh before taking a drink of his sake.

"Old habits die hard, eh?" Minato chuckled at the stares at his other guest gave at his sensei.

"I can assure you that I have done that in years." Jiraiya attempted to defend himself.

"Only because I beat you into an inch of your life!" Tsunade shouted as she snatched the bottle of sake from her former teammate.

"Now." Minato spoke to get the conversation back on track. "You told me you had something to tell me that had to do with Naruto?" Jiraiya nodded slowly.

"There is a organization that is after Naruto." Judging from Minato's reaction to his, Jiraiya thought it better to explain more rather than just have him start asking questions. "I do not know what it is called, but I do know they are after what is inside of him. They are attempting to gather all of the tailed demons for a reason I do not know." Minato took a large swig of the bottle of sake he had in his hands.

"You said you don't know why, but how did you learn of his group?" Multiple thoughts were pouring through the Hokage's head.

"One of their members is..." Jiraiya hesitated as he looked at Tsunade. "Well, one of them is Orochimaru." The busty blond next to him swallowed hard at hearing that name.

"Orochimaru?" The Hokage seethed. The bottle of sake began to shake in his hand before it shattered into pieces under the pressure he was putting on it. Minato ignored the spilled drink as Jiraiya continued.

"Yes. It is a collection of missing-nin from all over the world. Most if not all are S-class." Jiraiya finished with the anger very much showing on his student's face. "Minato. No matter who is in that group, they are no match for you." Jiraiya tried to cheer the blond haired man up, but he could tell it would be difficult.

"I understand why you told us Jiraiya, but I think we should do our best to act as if nothing is wrong tonight. It is a happy night for Naruto, we shouldn't ruin it with a foul mood." Tsunade spoke up hoping to calm the Yellow Flash down.

Minato closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "I agree with you, Tsunade." He said after a long silence. "Let's not ruin this night for Naruto." He stood up, and the two sannin that were with him did as well. "Let's go met Naruto's new team." He put a smile on his face before walking out of the room with Jiraiya and Tsunade following.

Downstairs, Naruto was introducing Shikamaru to his mother. They had never met, but it appeared as though Kushina liked her son's new teammate. Of course, she already knew Hinata, and she wasn't surprised when the poor girl came in the door after Shikamaru's family by herself. Her father was not a very nice person, it was almost criminal some of the stuff he did to her.

"Yo, Naruto!" The new genin spun around to see Jiraiya and Tsunade waving at him. With a grin on his face, he rushed to them to give them each a massive hug.

"Ero-sennin!" Naruto called Jiraiya by the name he hated more than anything.

"I am the great Jiraiya! Master of the toad summons and one of the legendary sannin! Show me some respect, kid!" Jiraiya jumped into his dance that he did while introducing himself.

"Respect! Ha!" Tsunade laughed as she knelt down to give the young genin a hug.

"I'm glad to see you, granny Tsunade!" Tsunade's face went pale at hearing that and Jiraiya was giggling like a school girl.

"Naruto-kun, what have I told you have calling me that?" Tsunade attempted to remain calm.

"But thats what ero-sennin said I should call you." Jiraiya suddenly stopped laughing as the boy just condemned him to a painful beating.

"Oh did he?" A wicked grin grew on Tsunade's face as she turned to face Jiraiya who was already backing away in terror, but before the beating ensued Minato stepped in to play mediator.

"Remember what we said upstairs you two." He placed one hand on Tsunade's shoulder and the other on his sensei's chest pushing the older man back. Tsunade had a vein bulging out of her forehead, but managed to keep her cool in front of her godson.

Jiraiya crept forward to whisper in his student's ear. "You save me right there." He grinned.

"I can't protect you after tonight though." Minato returned the grin as Jiraiya backed away slowly thinking of the last time Tsunade beat him. Putting the feeling that she needed to hurt her former teammate, Tsunade turned back to Naruto.

"This is for you." She smiled as she removed the necklace from her neck. "It was given to me by the Shodaime Hokage, and now I'm giving it to you." Naruto stood speechless as she wrapped the necklace around his neck. He put a hand on the crystal, it felt warm to the touch. Tsunade explained to the young man that everyone she had given the necklace to had died afterwards, but she was expecting him to break that curse. Naruto nodded his head feverishly.

"Don't worry, I'm not gonna die for a long time!" Naruto put a grin on his face that brought some tears to Tsunade's eyes. Jiraiya walked up and tapped the boy on his shoulder to get his attention.

"This is from me." He handed him a small, crudely wrapped package. Naruto eye's widened as he opened it, and then a look of chagrin crossed his face. He held in his hand the new book in the Icha Icha series. "You children have no appreciation for a true masterpiece!" Jiraiya frowned at the boy's lack of a reaction. "OK, OK, this is your real present." The toad sennin threw him a small bag.

"What are these?" Naruto opened the bag, it had several scrolls in it.

"Jutsu scrolls." With the word "jutsu" said, Naruto nearly tackled the older man. Minato and Kushina's eyes grew weary as they look over the scene, but Jiraiya waved off their concern.

The party was just starting to wind down, when Naruto found himself alone in the garden in the back of his house with Hinata. She had been quiet for most of the night, and Naruto figured it was because she came alone. She walked in with Shikamaru, but her father didn't come. Naruto didn't particularly like the man, but he held his tongue because even though Hinata was upset about him not coming she still loved him.

"Hey Hinata-chan." The young girl jumped at the sound of his voice. "Didn't mean to startle you." He apologized.

"It's fine, Naruto-kun." She quietly told him. It was just like her to do that. Not let anything bother her, or show her emotions. "I brought this for you. A present." She handed her teammate a small jar. Naruto recognized it right away, it was some of the medical cream she had used before on his cuts and scraps.

"Thanks Hinata-chan!" He gave the girl a grin and a quick hug. Hinata went stiff as a board as Naruto touched her. She was mentally kicking herself. Naruto was showing her some affection, and all she could do is stand there not returning it. Hinata swallowed her fear and with all of her willpower, she returned the hug. This time Naruto was as stiff as a board. All the times he had hugged her, she had never returned the hug.

Hinata noticed his reaction and quickly backed away. "I'm sorry, Naruto-kun." She looked at the ground as she fiddled when her fingers.

"What? Why are you apologizing?" Naruto walked to the girl and put his hands on her shoulders. Hinata's face was a deep red now, and Naruto couldn't help but laugh. "You just never return the hugs, you caught me off guard." He grinned at her and hugged her again. She had to admit, it was nice to get hugged by someone that cared for her. Her father hadn't hugged her since her mother died.

Hinata let out a relieved sigh as Naruto hugged her again, this time she didn't back way or go stiff. She accepted his embrace and returned it. She let her head rest on his shoulder and felt Naruto put a hand on the back of her head stroking her hair. This was the nicest moment she had experienced in a long time.

From a window, Kushina and Tsunade watched the scene with tears in their eyes. "That is so cute!" Kushina brushed a tear from her cheek. Tsunade nodded in agreement.

**A/N: I decided to shake up the normal teams because they are boring to have the same things over and over again. Hope you enjoyed the chapter. Next Chapter will be started soon.**


	4. Chapter 3

**A\N: Thanks for the review. Sorry about the typos, I hope I got them all but I doubt it.**

* * *

**Chapter 3**

Naruto wiped the sweat of his face with a damp towel. This was the second mission they had done today, and he was winded which was something that was strange altogether. Ever since he was a kid, he just never seemed to get wore out, and it was a strange feeling to be a bit winded. He was still in better shape than his other teammates. Hinata had her back leaned against a tree enjoying the shade. It was extremely hot outside this day, and the different in temperature from the sun to the shade was nearly thirty degrees. Shikamaru was leaned against that same tree, he had downed two bottles of water in the five minute break they were taking.

"Break is over guys." Kakashi walked out of the small house they were at with a glass of lemonade in his hand. Naruto really wondered how much of pain it was to drink with that mask on.

"Easy for you to say, Kakashi-sensei." Hinata whined. They have been working on this old man's yard for four hours. This wasn't why they wanted to be shinobi. They weren't expecting to have to pick weeds and do yard work for the first month of their careers.

Kakashi made what appeared to be a smile at the young Hyuuga before handing her the glass of lemonade, which Hinata nearly drank in one gulp. "Not much more work to do." He tried to motivate them. The three genin weren't moving. "I'll take you out for lunch afterwards." The three of them sighed and stood up to start the work again. Naruto was digging holes to plant some bushes. Shikamaru was cutting the grass with one of this shadow techniques, and Hinata was in the garden picking weeds. It wasn't the most exciting mission for sure, but it still paid.

"Oi! Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto called out getting the attention of the jounin lounging under a tree reading his book. "Isn't there some jutsu you can teach me to dig these faster?" He hadn't learned a new technique since he was put on this team. The ones that Jiraiya had given him were rather complex, and he was having trouble with them.

Kakashi thought of a proposition for the young genin. "If you can finish this work in the next hour, I will teach you all a new jutsu." Naruto's eyes lit up.

"Is it a cool one?!" Naruto shouted as he started to frantically dig the remaining two holes for the trees. Kakashi smiled as the blond ran around with renewed vigor. Five minutes after he finished his work, he was in the garden with Hinata yanking out weeds left and right. Shikamaru finished up cutting the grass just as Naruto pulled the last weed, and it was just a matter of cleaning up. Twenty minutes later Team 6 was walking into a causal sit down restaurant.

After everyone had eaten, Naruto found himself seated next to Hinata in the booth by themselves. Shikamaru had gone home complaining that missions were very troublesome, and Kakashi had excused himself because he had to finish the paperwork for the two missions they had completed. Hinata leaned back in the booth, her muscles ached with a dull constant pain. Naruto found it strange, he had been only slightly winded when his teammates had to lean against a tree to keep from falling down. Kakashi had told me that he just had better endurance naturally but something still seemed off. Hinata thanked the waitress as she filled her glass with refreshing water.

"So, how long do you think its going to be until we get more interesting missions?" Naruto attempted to make idle conversation. He liked being around the girl seated next to him, and he justed wanted to sit here a little while longer.

"I enjoy these missions. They are relaxing for the most part. No really urgency involved." Hinata took a gulp from her water.

Naruto nodded his head. "Yeah, they are nice, but I want a little adventure ya know." Hinata just nodded her head, she just like being wherever Naruto was. As Hinata just sat there enjoying the company of Naruto next to her, she found that her head was resting on his shoulder. When she realized what she was doing, the girl pulled her head away instantly.

"Sorry, Naruto-kun." She apologized to him.

Naruto just smiled. "I didn't mind, Hinata-chan." The embarrassed girl gasped at his reaction. Of course Naruto wouldn't mind, he wouldn't do anything to hurt her. Naruto put an arm over her shoulders and pulled her into his body. Hinata wanted to melt from his touch, if she could freeze time she would just sit here forever.

The next day just as promised Kakashi started to teach his team a new technique. Kakashi explained that the new technique was a Earth type jutsu. When Kakashi performed the technique, he made the hand seals and coughed up a brown liquid on the ground in front of him. The brown liquid solidified and burst into a massive wall of earth. Naruto's eyes widened.

"That is awesome!" Naruto shouted as Kakashi walked around the wall, it was about as tall as the jounin and a few feet wide.

"Now this is a B-rank jutsu, I don't expect you to learn it right away, but it will give you something to practice." Kakashi explained. A few minutes later after fielding a few questions Kakashi watched as his team attempted to preform the technique. Just like he thought, they weren't quite ready for it. Hinata actually came the closest in complete it, which also didn't surprise him. She had the best chakra control of the whole team. Naruto was trying to force it into working by pouring as much chakra as he could into it, but he had to learn that some techniques require finesse. Shikamaru had attempted it a few times before calming it was troublesome and giving up. It was disheartening to Kakashi to see someone with as much potential as him seem to waste it.

Kakashi observed Hinata attempt it one more time, she preformed the hand seals and felt the liquid forming in her stomach. With a cough it poured out onto the ground and hardened almost instantly. The mud shot up into the air forming a jagged wall about three feet tall. The young Hyuuga jumped back with a gasp. Naruto saw Hinata jump back and he noticed the wall of stone in front of her.

"Way to go, Hinata-chan!" Naruto ran over to the startled girl. Kakashi looked at the wall. While it was far from perfect it, it was the best any of his students had done so far.

"Well done, Hinata." Kakashi's compliment caused the girl to blush. "Naruto!" Kakashi barked at the young man jumped at his name being yelled. "Let's do some agility exercises with Shikamaru." Naruto's eyes lit up. Kakashi had made a game out of one of Shikamaru's shadow techniques. Naruto attempted to dodge the shadow as Shikamaru tried to grab him with it. There were some simple rules to this game though. Naruto could only have one hand or foot on the ground at once, and Shikamaru was only allowed to catch Naruto in the technique if he was on the ground.

Kakashi took this time to help Hinata out with her taijutsu. Starting a few weeks ago, the jounin had observed Hinata and Naruto sparring. Naruto had picked up on some of the techniques used in the gentle fist style and was the best partner for her to practice with. Kakashi had decided that he would watch Hinata with his sharingan to get a rough understanding of the style, and then he would help her perfect her style.

* * *

Later that night, Naruto was in the backyard of his house attempting the technique that Kakashi had taught them. Every time he tried, he either used too much chakra or not enough. It was clear that his control was not where it needed to be. He was the number one genin this year, but his chakra control was the area that he scored the lowest in. After trying the jutsu a few more times, the frustrated genin threw a kick into a nearby tree that put a crack up the center of it.

"What did that tree ever do to you?" Naruto heard his father's voice come from a few feet away. Minato could see his son was angry. "What's wrong?" The forth took his son by the shoulder and led him to a bench.

"My chakra control sucks!" Naruto sighed.

Minato nodded his head. It seemed the kyuubi did have an effect on his chakra control. While he was better then he had been, he still had a long ways to go. But the forth Hokage knew of a way to help his son out. "You have a lot of chakra. More than most of the jounin in the village as a matter of fact. That much chakra can help you train faster than anyone." Minato explained.

"What? How?" Naruto wasn't convinced.

Minato thought of the best way to do this. No one had told Naruto about the kyuubi yet, and he didn't want his son to find out. It would happen eventually, but right now wasn't the time. "There is a training method that I have used in the past. It uses a jounin level jutsu to do it." Minato told his son about the shadow clone technique, and he also thought he would have no trouble performing it. The forth did the jutsu and a pair of shadow clones came into existence next to him. They appeared to be just regular clones to Naruto.

"Aren't those just bunshins?" Naruto walked around the clone to inspect it.

"Touch one." Minato told him. Naruto reached a hand out to touch the clone, when his hand met the clone and stopped Naruto pulled his hand back quickly. "Kage bunshin is different from regular bunshin. These clones can actually fight for you and can absorb attacks."

Naruto had heard all he need. "What is the hand seal again?" Naruto asked his father who just gave him a grin. Minato went into explaining the technique to his son, and after about an hour of trial and error, Naruto was ready to try it. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Naruto shouted as he formed the seal. There was a large blast of air followed by a even larger cloud of smoke.

Minato's eyes watched the smoke closely, and when it finally cleared he was staring at an uncountable number of Narutos. Minato's eyes nearly bulged out of his head, he tried to count how many there were, but he lost count at fifty. "Well done, Naruto." Was all he could manage. The many faces of his son grinned.

"So dad, how does this help me train?" What he assumed was the real Naruto asked.

"Well, start by releasing these." Minato ordered and Naruto obeyed. When the smoke cleared only one of his son was standing by him. "Now, make only one clone." Minato watched Naruto's reaction. Naruto's brow scrunched for a moment before he attempted to make the single clone. A single puff of smoke appeared and one shadow clone appeared. Minato nodded his head approvingly.

"Now what?" Naruto asked as his father made a clone too.

"Have your bunshin follow mine." The Minato clone walked off with Naruto's following.

"What is the point of this?" The real Naruto asked. Minato didn't reply he just waited. With the clones out of view, Naruto had no idea of know what was going on. Suddenly Naruto appeared like he had just been punched in the face. He took a step back to brace himself.

"So, what did our clones do?" Minato spoke with a raised eyebrow.

"You told me that the real me would know what the clones did." Naruto gasped.

"You get it now, don't you?" Minato smiled as his son realized what was going on.

"I learn anything my clones learn?" The possibilities of this were endless. Naruto's mind raced as he thought of the things he could do.

"Yes. If you have one of your clones ask someone a question, when that clone releases you will have the knowledge the clone had learned. For you, this mean you can train with hundreds of clones doing different things and when you release them all-" Naruto jumped into the air with excitement.

"This means I can train much faster!" Naruto ran around the back yard.

"But!" His father shouted to catch his attention. "You have to be careful. Making too many clones and releasing them all at once can cause you to pass out with the influx of knowledge." Minato warned. Naruto nodded his head in understanding, but there was one question on his mind that need to be answered.

"How come I can make so many clones?" Naruto innocently asked. It was a question that Minato did not want to answer.

"Work on your jutsus and we can talk about it later." Minato promised and headed back into the house. As he entered the building, he heard Naruto create a batch of clones. It looked like about one hundred. The real Naruto ordered them in groups of ten to work on different things. Chakra control, Taijutsu, ninjutsu, everything he could think off. Minato had a smile on his face. "I've created a monster!" He chuckled before closing the door behind him. A few hours later when Naruto hadn't come back in the house, Minato went out to check on his son. He found the boy lying on the ground passed out. It appeared that he attempted to release all the clones at once and it was too much for him. With a smile Minato picked his son up and carried him to his room. Just as Minato set his son in his bed, Naruto's eyes slowly opened.

"Dad?" His voice was strained.

"Just relax Naruto. You released to many clones and your mind couldn't handle it." Minato pulled a blanket over the genin and left the room.

* * *

Team six met up the next morning at their normal time of 9 A.M, and just like usually Kakashi was two hours late. Naruto had taken the time to tell Hinata and Shikamaru about his new training his father helped him with.

"And when the bunshins release I have all their memories!" Naruto finished as Kakashi arrived. Hinata was smiling at Naruto and Shikamaru seemed mildly interested. Him being interested in anything was amazing enough.

"Yo!" Kakashi threw a wave to his team. Naruto started again on his story this time to Kakashi. The jounin was a bit surprised to hear that Minato had taught him how to make shadow clones, but he also knew that with the Kyuubi it was possible for the genin to learn much faster this way since he had the chakra to make so many. After going through their morning exercises, Kakashi led his team to the Hokage tower to get a mission for the day.

When they walked into the room, Naruto noticed that the pile of d-ranked missions was nearly gone. Hope filled the genin, today may be the day they get a c-ranked mission. Minato's eyes glanced over the team in front of him. Hinata was standing up straight with a smile on her face. Naruto was bouncing on the balls of his feet, and Shikamaru was slouched over in the corner looking out the window. Maybe they were ready.

Naruto watched his fathers hand headed towards the few d-ranked scrolls still on his desk and let out a sigh. They had done twenty D missions, and Naruto was getting fed up with it. Naruto pouted and walked to the window as his father started to talk to Kakashi.

"You leave tomorrow. You are going to Suna. There is a merchant there from Konoha that has made a few... bad choices in the city and is afraid to make the trip by himself. I don't expect you to run into any trouble, but just be prepared." Minato finished by throwing the scroll with the mission data to Kakashi.

"Yes, Hokage-sama." Kakashi bowed his head and gathered his team. Naruto ran from the room pulling Hinata by her hand. While she was used to him touching her, it still put a blush on her face.

"A c-class mission!" Naruto jumped through the door with a terrified Hinata behind him. When he landed on the dirt path outside, Hinata crashed into his back causing him to take a few steps forward before spinning around and picking the poor girl up by her waist and spinning a few more times.

"Naruto-kun!" She gasped as she was lifted into the air.

"Naruto! Calm down before you hurt someone!" Kakashi ordered. Naruto put the blushing girl on the ground and grinned sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his head. "Since we are leaving the village tomorrow, we will just do some light sparing and you will have the rest of the day off. Make sure you have anything you will need. It will take about three days to get to Suna, and I bet about a week to come back with the merchant. Pack accordingly." Kakashi led them to their normal trading ground to have some light exercise, and after they were finished he told them they would be meeting up at 6 A.M to leave.

Naruto once again found himself alone with Hinata after his sensei and other teammate had left to prepare for the trip. "Hinata-chan? Wanna go get some ramen?" He walked over to her. She was sweating a bit and Naruto could tell she was favoring one of her legs. "You OK?" He asked kneeling down next to her. Her left leg was a little swollen.

"I blocked one of Kakashi-sensei's kicks with that leg and hurt it a little I guess." She blushed as Naruto inspected it

"Looks like you should stay off of it." Naruto suggested. Hinata slowly nodded her head.

"I guess we should head to our houses to prepare for tomorrow?" She bowed to her teammate and started to limp towards her house.

"I'll help you home." Naruto took her arm so she could put some of her weight on him to help her walk. After a long fifteen minute walk of being so close to Naruto when they arrived at the house Hinata looked like she was sunburned on her face. Naruto helped the girl into her house when they were confronted by her cousin, Neji.

With an arrogant smirk on his face, he walked past the two bumping into Hinata causing her to put some weight on her leg. The girl grimaced in pain and Naruto spun around and glared at the older boy. "I apologize, Hinata-sama." The condescending tone of his voice was impossible to miss. Naruto walked to a chair in the hallway and had Hinata sit down.

"Naruto-kun, don't do anything." She begged. Her heart melted when he placed a hand on her cheek and gave her one of his grins. Naruto's face turned from a happy grin to a determined look as he faced Neji, who was now causally leaning against a wall.

"Can I help you, friend of Hinata-sama?" Naruto could literally feel the sarcasm on his words. Naruto walked to within feet of the genin and stood face to face with him.

"You can help me by kindly leaving her alone." He spoke in a tone Hinata had never heard him use. It scared her, but at the same time she was happy to have Naruto defending her. When Neji pushed himself off the wall, he was a few inches taller then Naruto and that just added to the arrogant way he was looking at him.

"You think because you are the son of the Hokage you can just boss me around?" He was daring Naruto to make a move.

"Neji!" A harsh voice thundered across the room. In an instant the arrogance that was on this face of the Hyuuga genius was gone. It was replaced by fear.

"Hiashi-sama." Neji's knees hit the ground and he pressed his forehead to the floor.

"I expect better from you." Was all the head of the Hyuuga said before leaving the room. Naruto figured that was punishment enough and help Hinata to her room. Just before Naruto rounded the corner that led to Hinata's room, he saw Neji stand up.

"Hiashi-sama won't be there next time." He spit out before storming off. Naruto walked with Hinata to her room and helped her sit down on the bed. The room was rather spartan. That was how he thought it would be. Hinata didn't seem like one to have luxuries for her own amusement.

"Don't let Neji-nii-san bother you." Naruto couldn't believe she was defending him, but he decided not to push it. He always knew that her family wasn't the greatest but she honored them anyway.

"He's still a jerk." Naruto gave a quick nod. Hinata giggled at his apparent attempt to make a serious face. Hinata pulled herself onto the bed and kicked her sandals off. Naruto just sat there as she made herself comfy. "Can I get you anything?" He asked. He hated to see people he cared about in any kind of pain.

"I'm fine, Naruto-kun." She gave him a weak smile before she leaned back and closed her eyes.

"I'm gonna head home and prepare for tomorrow." He touched her arm causing goosebumps to form. She nodded her head with her eyes still closed. Naruto nodded and made his way quietly from her room and the Hyuuga compound.

* * *

Kushina sat and listened as Minato explained to her why he was sending her child out of the village on a mission. He knew that there was some secret group of missing-nin after him. He knew that people hated him because he held the kyuubi. He _knew_ that she would kill her husband if anything happened to her baby.

"I understand your concern." He had been saying that all day. "But he is a shinobi of the leaf now. We can't confine him to the village for the rest of his life."

"Why not?" Kushina retorted. Minato let out a exasperated sigh.

"I can't be everywhere at once to protect him. He is going to have to fend for himself some day." It was hard convincing his wife see anything when it came to their son. She had nearly died in childbirth when she had Naruto. He held a special place in both of their hearts.

"You can too be everywhere." She countered. Her husband gave another sigh, but she had a point. At any moment he could be anywhere one of his scrolls was.

"I don't want to argue." He sat down in a chair in front of her. He love his wife more then anyone in the world, but sometimes she drove him crazy. "Naruto is ready for this. His team is ready. There is only so long that he can weed gardens and rescue runaway cats." Minato pleaded with his wife.

Kushina narrowed her eyes for about the umpteenth time during this exchange, but Minato appeared to get through to her as her glare dissipated. "I just.." She couldn't finish the sentence, but he knew.

Minato rose from his chair and walked to her side. The forth knelt down next to her and wrapped his arms around her chest. "I know. You don't want him hurt, and neither do I." Kushina let out a dry sob. She couldn't believe that her baby was growing up so fast. It seemed like just last week he was entering the academy and brought some little Hinata-chan. It made her sad to see him grow up, but she was also proud about the kind of man he was becoming.

"Kakashi will be there, right?" Kushina pulled her face away from her husband's tear stained shirt.

"Of course. He is his sensei." Minato knew he had convinced her now. Even she knew that Kakashi wasn't a man that would be defeated easily. "I promise that he will be OK, and if I feel the kunai I gave him fly I will be there in a heartbeat." Minato had given his son one of his three pronged kunai the day he graduated from the academy. He had told him if he was ever in a life threatening situation he should use it.

Kushina looked into her husband's blue eyes. Every time she did she could just melt. She gazed long in hard before closing the distance between them and engaging in a deep kiss. "I love you, Namikaze Minato." She whispered as she broke the kiss.

"And I love you, Uzumaki Kushina." Minato felt her sigh and she put her head on his chest again.

* * *

Naruto held a small pad of paper in his hand. He looked at the paper and then looked at the objects he had on his bed. "Kunais. Check. Shuriken. Check." One by one he went down the list marking off everything he had. When he reached the ended he nodded his head. "Looks like everything." He walked to the small desk in his room. The scrolls that Jiraiya had given him where arranged in order of difficulty. There was one S-ranked technique that had a note on it that told him to not let his father know about this one. There were three A-ranked jutsu. One water, one earth, and one wind. The rest of the scrolls were a few C and D ranked techniques. None of them were entirely interesting to Naruto right now. Perhaps when he got back he would look them over.

Seeing as they were about to go into the desert Naruto picked up the water A-ranked and the S-ranked scrolls and headed out to the back of the house. Once in the back and a reasonable distance from the house, the blond genin performed his now favorite technique.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" He shouted as he made the hand seal. When the smoke cleared there were about fifteen Naruto's standing in the yard. "You guys are going to work on this one." He threw the A-ranked scroll to his clones. "Each of you look it over and start practicing."

As his clones started, Naruto unrolled the S-rank scroll for the first time. He read the title of the technique and nearly dropped the scroll. Ero-sennin really gave him this? If this fell into the wrong hands, all sorts of bad things could happen. Naruto decided against trying this one right now, and as his clones worked on the water technique he ran back into the house to put this scroll away.

"Whatcha got there?" Tami poked her head into his room as he was searching for a place to hide the scroll.

"What? It's nothing." He tried to act cool His sister would rat him out in a heartbeat.

"Nothing, huh?" She squeezed into his room. Naruto moved his hands behind his back to guard the scroll from his annoying sister. "Why are you trying to hide it then?" She was pushing him.

"I want some privacy, can you please leave?" He tried to be polite, something that his sister normally didn't react too. Tami held her ground in his room. "I can force you out if I have to." Naruto made a passive threat.

"Fine." She turned around to leave. "But there is nothing you can hide that I can't find." Tami walked out of the room and Naruto closed the door forcefully behind her. He looked around again, he knew just the spot. There was a board on the floor that when he was younger he knew he could remove. It opened up a compartment between his floor and the ceiling below. He knelt on the floor next to his bed and with a kunai he pried the board loose and put the scroll in the opening.

Naruto had become distracted after his run in with his sister. He had been rearranging his furniture for nearly an hour to attempt to hide the spot on the floor he had mess with when he was hit with the memories of his clones. The first one he saw was a mass of water blasting into them turning them instantly into smoke.. He searched the memories for the clone that was successful in performing the technique. The blond rushed from his room out the back door of his house and saw the destruction his clones had caused. There was about a foot a standing water in a indentation in the yard. Grass had been torn up and there was a tree that had been knocked over with its roots still attached.

Naruto ignored the damage while he attempted the jutsu himself. "Water Release: Torrent!" He made the correct hand seals as he shouted. The result was a blast of water that seemed to come from no where that shot in front of him. The water rushed forward tearing up grass and plants in its path for about twenty yards before it lost its speed and the water lost its form.

Naruto surveyed his surroundings. This technique was a bit uncontrollable from what he could see, but that could just be from his lack of chakra control. Performing another kage bunshin, Naruto set them to work on fixing the yard. With his clones at work, Naruto ran in the house when he heard his mother call him for dinner. He want to eat and goto bed early with the mission tomorrow.

* * *

The next morning Hinata found herself rushing through the house to get prepared for her mission. It was 5 A.M, an hour from the time she was suppose to meet her team. She knew that Kakashi-sensei would be late, but she still wanted to be on time. Last night after Naruto had left, she quickly fell asleep and managed to sleep through dinner. She was in the kitchen trying to prepare a quick breakfast before she had to go.

"Hinata-sama?" A voice called out from behind her. It was one of the branch family members.

"Yes?" She spun around to face the woman.

"There is someone at the door for you." The older woman bowed before she left the kitchen. Hinata left the food she was preparing to see who was at the door.

"Hey, Hinata-chan!" Naruto stood in the foyer of the house with his pack on. He had all his supplies ready.

"Morning, Naruto-kun!" She smiled at him.

"I was stopping by to see if you wanted to grab some breakfast before we left." Naruto asked. Hinata agreed to it almost immediately and excused herself to grab her bag for the trip. As Naruto waited in the foyer, the boy that he encountered the day before was on his way out the door.

"Greetings, friend of Hinata-sama." His voice dripped with arrogance.

"Good morning." Naruto reply showed no emotion on how he felt. From what he knew of the boy, he was a very good shinobi. Hyuuga Neji was just like him in the fact that he was number one in his class from the year before.

"I wish you good luck on your mission." Neji told him before he walked out of the room. Naruto promised himself right then that one day he would make that arrogant asshole eat his words.

"I'm ready to go, Naruto-kun!" Hinata's voice wiped all of the anger from the blond's face. Naruto gave her one of his trademarked grins, and they walked from the house to his favorite ramen stand.

"They are open this early?" Hinata wondered why a ramen stand would be open.

"Well, they are open almost 24 hours. Most of their customers are shinobi who come and go at all times of the day, so they are open to feed the ones that return and the ones leaving." Naruto explained as he offered a seat to Hinata. The young Hyuuga put her pack at her feet and jumped onto a stool at the bar.

"Yosh! Naruto!" The old mans voice called out from the back of the kitchen. "What are you two having!" Naruto quickly ordered several bowls of ramen of all different flavors. Hinata settled for a single bowl of beef flavored ramen.

"I got a cool new jutsu that I'm dying to use on this mission." Naruto attempted to make causal conversation. "It was on a scroll that ero-sennin gave me." Hinata's brow scrunched at trying to figure out who ero-sennin could be. It could have been Kakashi-sensei given how many of those dirt books he read, and there was no way that Naruto-kun would call his father that.

"Who is ero-sennin?" Hinata whispered.

"Oh thats right, you've never met the old pervert!" Naruto grinned. "It's Jiraiya. One of the sannin." Hinata felt like she was going to have to pick her jaw off the ground at hearing that. Not only did Naruto get private lessons from the forth Hokage, he received scrolls from one of the legendary sannin. He was comfortable enough around him that he called him "ero-sennin".

"Naruto-kun, you have some amazing teachers!" Hinata said as their ramen was placed before them.

"You think so?" Naruto pondered what she had said. He hadn't really thought of it, but he was amazingly lucky. After Naruto finished his fifth bowel of ramen it was getting close to the time they had to met Kakashi-sensei. Although he wasn't particularly worried about getting there on time, Hinata was insisting that they did just in case this was the one time Kakashi would be on time. Naruto made sure to pay for all the ramen even when Hinata argued with him, he put her money in her pocket and threw his own down.

It was a short walk to the west gate where they met of with Shikamaru, and just like Naruto had suspected Kakashi wasn't there yet. Shikamaru eye's were closed as he sat on bench as his two other teammates arrived.

"Morning, Shikamaru!" Naruto shouted startling the other boy.

"You are very troublesome this early in the morning." Shikamaru yawned. It was another hour before Kakashi arrived.

"Yo!" He waved at his team as he walked up towards the gate.

"You are always late, Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto shouted at the gray haired jounin.

"I had to help an old lady across the street." Kakashi smiled as Naruto was restrained by Hinata.

"Liar!" Naruto shouted as he fought his teammates grip on him. Kakashi just walked by the struggling Naruto to the gate.

"It will take us three days to get to Suna. Let's get going." Naruto stopped trying to pummel his sensei after Kakashi said that. Naruto ran to the open gate that lead to the west.

"Let's go!" He shouted before he ran out of the village. It was a rather exciting time for him. It was the first time that he was leaving the village. It was his first true mission as a shinobi.

* * *

**A/N: This chapter was pretty tough to write. I knew what I wanted in it, but I wasn't sure how to go about it. Anyway, hope you enjoyed. Drop some reviews, lemme know your thoughts.**


	5. Chapter 4

**A/N: Thanks for the reviews, and sorry about the delay in updating. It's been a crazy week. Hope I got all the typos but ya never know.**

* * *

**Chapter 4**

Haruno Sakura's body ached everywhere. This was the forth day in a row that the stupid cat ran away from that terrifying woman, and once again it led them on a chase all over the village. Sasuke was next to her with his normally quiet demeanor, and Kiba was off to the side playing with Akamaru. Sakura realized that Kiba sometimes felt like an outsider in this team. She was always around the Uchiha, and she didn't think that Kiba liked him very much. They were waiting at the first train ground they had used for their sensei to show up. Asuma told them that he was going to buy a pack of cigarettes and told them to head here while he did. That was an hour ago.

The pink haired girl let out a bored sigh. "Where is he!" She huffed. Sasuke quickly glanced at her before he continued to stare at nothing. Sakura never knew if she was annoying him or if he was just quiet.

"Sorry I'm late!" Asuma blew out a cloud of smoke as he talked. Sakura didn't think it was very wise to smoke as a shinobi. They had a horrid smell and you could see them from really far away.

"Asuma-sensei!" Sakura put her hands on her hips and stomped the ground. The older man flinched.

"I said I was sorry." He frowned with the cigarette hanging from the side of his mouth.

"Well, why were you so late?" Kiba walked over as Sakura was asking him.

"I had to meet the Hokage, we have a c-rank mission we are going on." Sasuke's eyes showed the smallest hint of emotion before it faded. It wasn't quick enough for Sakura not to notice though.

"When do we leave?" Kiba inquired as he put Akamaru on his head. The puppy was sound asleep as soon as he was up there.

"Um, now. Meet at the east gate in thirty minutes. Pack for a two week mission." He ordered and his team was gone. The large jounin took a long puff from his cigarette. He had a bad feeling about this one, but he didn't have any room to turn down a mission. The man Tanuza seemed nervous when he met him, but he dismissed the concern. How hard could a c-ranked mission be?

* * *

Naruto followed behind Kakashi. They had left Konoha two days ago and were scheduled to arrive at Suna in a few hours. It was hard not to notice how close they were to the village. They had gone from the lush forests in the Land of Fire to the scorching hot desert of the Land of Wind. Naruto seemed to be the least effected by it though. Kakashi was breathing erratically as they traveled. Hinata and Shikamaru weren't complaining, but Naruto could tell his teammates were nearing their limit. Kakashi seemed to notice this as well and called for a small break.

"Conserve your water. There are no oasis between here and Suna, and we still have about two hours before we arrive." The jounin gave them warning, but that gave Naruto an idea.

"Oi! Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto jogged to the man as he sat in the shade that one of the large sand dunes managed to provide. Kakashi looked up at the boy wondering how he could be so full of energy when it was this hot. "I have a way to get water!" Kakashi's one visible eye brow rose.

"By all means." Kakashi gave him the OK and Naruto prepared himself. The blond genin made a few clones to dig a small hole to hold the water, and after about ten minutes he was ready.

"Water release: Torrent!" Naruto shouted as he made the hand signed. Kakashi and his teammates felt the air become filled with humidity before a blast of water erupted from around Naruto. It appeared that Naruto was attempting to aim the blast at the hole he had just dug, but he didn't have the control yet. It was good enough though. When the water finished following there was a few inches of standing water in the hole.

Kakashi noticed the frown on his student's face. "What's wrong Naruto?"

"Well, there is normally more water then that." Naruto explained. Kakashi wondered about what kind of potential Naruto had. He already had the chakra to create water out of thin air and was disappointed that he didn't make more.

"We are in the middle of the desert." Kakashi offered to explain the shortage.

"I guess." Naruto was still upset. He wanted to do the technique again, but Kakashi stopped him explaining that he shouldn't waste chakra because he wanted to do better.

"Drink up and fill your canteens. We leave in five minutes." Kakashi ordered as his team was getting its fill on the water. While it wasn't cold, it quenched their thirst perfectly. Kakashi listened as Hinata and Shikamaru complimented Naruto. Hinata, of course, was quiet with what she said, but there was no mistaking that she was very happy for Naruto. Shikamaru said something about Naruto making this mission less troublesome and thanked him.

Two hours later, the large canyon that led into the heart of Suna was visible. It was a sight for sore eyes, and it made team 6 move even faster. The man that they were suppose to escort back to Konoha was already at the gates ready to leave when they got there.

"Took your sweet time getting here, didn't you?" He spoke as he noticed the symbol of the hitai-ate on Kakashi's forehead. It was a heavyset man who was balded with a thick brown beard. Kakashi smiled at the man and apologized for the delay.

"Though, I am sorry to inform you, but we are not leaving today." The man's face turned red in anger when Kakashi told him that.

"And why not?!" He nearly yelled, but he managed to restrain himself enough to keep his voice from traveling too far.

"My team has just ran across a desert in one day. They need time to recover in case we are attacked on the way back." Kakashi explained as the man looked over the jounin's shoulder.

"Those brats are suppose to protect me?" He noticed Hinata and Shikamaru.

"Don't worry. They may be young, but they are strong. I am a jounin, nothing will go wrong." Kakashi kept his pleasant demeanor even though the man was beginning to annoy him. Naruto had just walked back from a near by store with a few bottles of cold water when the man recognized him.

"HIM!?" He shouted as he jumped back from Naruto, who just had a confused look on his face. "I will have nothing to do with _him_." The man pointed at Naruto before looking at Kakashi was even more anger from before.

Kakashi placed an arm on the man's shoulder. "May I have a word in private?" The man was a little startled at Kakashi's seemingly calm appearance. The two men walked off leaving a confused Naruto standing there. Had he done something to this man before? Or did he just not like his father?

"I do not want to be near that demon!" The man whispered in a raised voice.

"You will be careful with what you say. You wouldn't want to violate the law the Yondaime made." The threat was presented calmly, but it had the desired effect.

"I will not be near that... thing. My wife died on that day." The man's voice turned from anger to sadness.

"I am deeply sorry for that, but Naruto is not the kyuubi. Naruto is the son of the Hokage and a hero." Kakashi whispered so that Naruto wouldn't hear.

"A hero, ha!" The man's voice carried to the ears of Naruto. Naruto was worried that he had done something to mess this mission up.

"If you do not accept this team, you will have to send another mission request and wait for another team. And for making us travel here, you will lose your money as well." Kakashi smiled. "I have no problems with leaving you here to deal with whatever trouble you got into while you wait for another team." The man visibly gulped.

"I will show that demon no respect, but it seems you have forced me to accept this." The man glared at Kakashi.

"I have forced nothing. We will leave tomorrow morning. My team needs time to recover from the journey." Kakashi walked away from the infuriated man and called his team over. After he explained the situation, he pulled Naruto to the side while Shikamaru and Hinata went to check them into a hotel.

"Kakashi-sensei." Naruto's eyes were on the ground as he walked with Kakashi. "Did I do something wrong?" Kakashi was taken back by that. He didn't know that he held the kyuubi in him, and didn't know that their were people that hated him for it. No one dared say anything around Minato, but they still held on to their petty hatred.

"No, Naruto you didn't." Kakashi put a hand on Naruto's shoulder. "He is upset with your father over something and is taking it out on you." Kakashi lied. It wasn't his place to tell him the truth. Minato had given Kakashi permission to do so, but he didn't feel it was his place to do so.

"OK." Naruto's voice was quiet. It was very unlike him. Kakashi doubted he believed him. Kakashi gave him a smile before leading him to the hotel. Shikamaru and Hinata had rented three rooms. One for the two boys of the team, one for Hinata, and one for Kakashi. Kakashi put it as an expense for the mission and used money that he was allowed to use only on missions.

With all three of his students gathered in a corner of the main lobby away from the ears of the citizens of Suna, Kakashi laid down some rules. "Remember, we are guests in another shinobi village. Don't do anything stupid that would jeopardize the alliance we have with Suna. There are certain areas of the village that will be off limits, if you are asked to leave them do so immediately." Kakashi explained. He didn't want his team to be the reason for an already weak alliance to be broken. His three students understood this well enough. Kakashi told them they were to be back in their rooms by 9 P.M and they would be leaving at 7 A.M the next morning. He also told them to hold back on any sparring or strenuous activity because they didn't know what they might in counter on the road.

Shikamaru and Hinata excused themselves to their rooms since they didn't have as much stamina as Naruto. That left Naruto alone to explore the village on his own. It was the first hidden village Naruto had been in besides Konoha, and it amazed him about how different things were. All the buildings appeared to be made of sand. There were hardly any children running through the streets. It seemed like these people were prepared for war at any time. There were shinobi guards at almost every street corner. Most of them kept one eye on the leaf shinobi that was walking their streets.

Another discovery Naruto had made was that none of the restaurants here served ramen. It was a little disappointing that he wouldn't have his favorite meal before they started the trip home. It was when he was standing outside of one of the restaurants looking at a menu that he had his first encounter with two Suna shinobi.

"Look at this brat." A male voice came from behind him. "I didn't know they made babies shinobi in Konoha." He laughed at his own joke. The person he was with didn't find it that funny.

"I think he's kind of cute." She retorted. The corners of Naruto's mouth turned very slightly up.

"What are you doing here, brat?" The male asked again. Naruto refused to acknowledge someone that called him a brat. "Hey, kid!" He shouted.

"Maybe if you were polite he would answer you." His female friend scowled him. "Excuse me." She said as she tapped Naruto on the shoulder. Naruto spun around to face them. He expected them to be older. They might have been a few years older then Naruto.

"Hello." Naruto smiled politely remembering what Kakashi had said.

"Ha! Hes even younger then I thought." The boy in front of Naruto said. He had very strange face paint on.

"Shut up Kankuro!" The blond girl slapped this Kankuro across the back of the head.

"You are lucky you're my sister." Kankuro grunted before walking off.

"Don't mind my annoying brother. We aren't all like him." She said the part about her brother loud enough so he could hear her as he walked off. Naruto smiled at her.

"It's no problem." Naruto remained polite, but this time it was genuine. He gave the older girl a grin causing her blush.

"I'm Temari!" She extended her hand for Naruto to shake it.

"Daughter of the Kazekage." Naruto replied. "I'm Naruto." He reached out and shook the teen's hand.

"Naruto? Are you the son of the Hokage?" She spoke in a whisper. Naruto nodded at her. "Well how about that. The children of two Kages meeting on the street." She smiled.

"Quite the coincidence." Naruto released her hand.

"Hate to run, but I have to report for a mission. Maybe we will run into each other again, Naruto-san." Temari bowed before she ran off. Naruto watched her go before he turned back to reading the menu.

* * *

Sarutobi Asuma stood in a small clearing. Him and his team had just arrived in the Land of the waves when they had been intercepted by a man. Momochi Zabuza was not a man that Asuma could take lightly. He was in the bingo book, an A-ranked missing nin. Asuma ordered his team to take up a protective formation around Tazuna. With the thick fog it was impossible to see more then a few feet in front of them, but he also had Kiba's nose.

"Sensei!" Kiba shouted catching the attention of the Sarutobi. "Behind!" Asuma turned just in time to see the blade of Zabuza crash down on him. Asuma reached for his trench blades and dove at the missing nin.

"Impressive nose on that runt." Zabuza pointed his blade at Kiba. Asuma decided he needed to end this now.

"Your fight is with me." Zabuza's attention snapped back to Asuma as he lunged at the former mist shinobi. With his chakra following into his blades, he swung at Zabuza letting him think he was missing. After the two traded blows, they jumped apart from each other. A series of cuts appeared all over Zabuza face. Asuma didn't let up. The jounin leapt into the air throwing a few kunai at his opponent. With a few hand seals, the few kunai turned into hundreds of kunai. Zabuza had no choice but to swing his sword around to deflect them, but that was the opening that Asuma needed.

Sasuke watched as his sensei landed on the ground and launched himself at Zabuza with amazing speed. The chakra was visible as his blades connected with the stomach of Zabuza. The missing nin swung his massive sword at Asuma haphazardly. Asuma was easily able to dodge the massive blade before going in for another strike. When he connected with his blades the second time in Zabuza's back, his enemy coughed up blood.

"What did you say your name was?" Zabuza crashed to the ground. He didn't have the strength to even lift his sword.

"I didn't." Asuma moved in for the final blow when several needles hit Zabuza in the neck making him fall limply to the ground. A boy in a ANBU mask appeared next to the body.

"I thank you for your help." He said curtly. Asuma knelt down to check to body for a pulse. "I assure you that he is dead. I never miss." The boy told him as he picked up the body over his shoulder and held the large sword in his hand.

Asuma eyes didn't move from the boy. "If you were a hunter, you would just take the head as proof." The boy flinched.

"You saw through my act?" His voice had a hint of fear on it. Asuma tighten the grip on his knifes as he stared at the boy posing as an ANBU. "You leave me with no choice." The ANBU made a few hand seals with the hand that held Zabuza over his shoulder and pieces of ice burst from the ground around him forcing Asuma to jump back.

"One handed seals?!" One of the spikes of ice struck Asuma in the leg. It just grazed him, but it was deep enough to cause some bleeding. Sasuke jumped forward in front of Asuma. The boy that rescued Zabuza wasn't any where to be seen.

"Do we pursue?" He spun around to face his sensei.

"No, leave him." Asuma slowly stood up favoring the leg that was bleeding. Sakura ran over to help steady him. "Zabuza is probably still alive, but he won't be in fighting condition for a while. Let's get Tazuna home." Asuma gave the orders. Kiba took point, Sasuke walked beside their client, and Sakura helped her sensei walk.

* * *

Naruto tossed restlessly in bed. It was barely past 9 P.M, but Kakashi-sensei had ordered them to bed. He wanted them to be prepared for the walk home. It would take several days longer then the trip to Suna, and the team had to be ready for anything. Naruto wasn't tired though. He fidgeted in bed under the sheet. Shikamaru was already sleep, Naruto assumed he was just worn out from the journey. It was hard for Naruto to lay here. No training or anything.

The blond genin let out a sigh as he flopped on his back and stared at the ceiling. He wanted to do something. Anything to relieve his boredom. He looked at the alarm clock on his night stand again. 9:23 P.M. This was going to be a long night. Letting out a sigh, the restless teen sat up and look out the window. The village was still alive with activity. It was not the type of night Naruto should be lying in bed.

Carefully the genin got of the bed and slid into his sandals. Naruto tiptoed his way to the door and slid it open. He squeezed out into the hallway and shut the door quietly behind him hoping he wouldn't wake Shikamaru. Naruto crept his way into the lobby of the hotel not making a sound until he made it outside.

"Alright!" He nodded his head quickly celebrating his escape. Not really sure where to go, the blond just started to walk. Anything was better than lying awake in his hotel room not able to sleep. After wondering the village for about ten minutes, Naruto came to a path and a sign. The sign said something about a scenic view of the village. Shrugging Naruto started his way up the steep path. When he arrived at the top, he stood on a ledge overlooking the village. He could see everything. From the Kazekage's tower, the Suna Academy, he could see everything. After about a minute he realized he wasn't alone.

A redheaded boy stood on the edge of the cliff. He had a strange jar on his back. He didn't seem to notice Naruto's presence though. "Hello." Naruto walked over to him. The boy didn't look back. Naruto walked to within a few feet of him before the sand that was on the ground started to move causing Naruto to jump back. The redhead still didn't move as the sand just floated in the air.

"What do you want?" His voice was quiet, but it had a tone that sent a shiver up the spine of Naruto.

"Just saying hello." Naruto tried to sound friendly and not afraid. Slowly the boy turned his head to face Naruto, the bags around his eyes showed he hadn't slept for awhile.

"Leave." He turned his head back looking for the village. Naruto was taken back by the bluntness of him. "If you don't," He turned his head back to Naruto. "I will kill you." Naruto's eyes widened. What was this guys problem? He didn't have a hitai-ate on, but only an idiot wouldn't know that he was a shinobi.

"OK, OK. I'm leaving." Naruto started to back away and eventually turned his back when he felt the hair on his neck rise. He turned around just in time to see sand flying at him. He ducked and rolled out of the way and faced the redhead.

"You." For the first time there was emotion. "You are like me." A eerie grin appeared on his face as he moved his hands towards Naruto, the sand seemingly moving with them. Naruto dodged another blast of sand.

_This isn't good._ Naruto thought to himself. He would get in so much trouble if he attacked a foreign shinobi. Just as more sand started to swirl around the redheaded boy, a few flashes streaked in front of Naruto, and four shinobi were restraining him.

"Gaara-sama!" A voice barked from behind Naruto. He spun around to see a Suna shinobi. Half his face was covered with a piece of cloth that hung from a wrapping around his head. "You mustn't attack our allies!" He waved a hand and the four shinobi released Gaara. Gaara's lifeless eyes stared at this shinobi before walking past him.

Naruto stood there not really sure want to do. He was just attacked by a Suna shinobi, but it appeared as though he had been rescued. "Um." Naruto whispered catching the attention of the men around him.

"I apologize." The man with the covered face spoke. "Gaara-sama can be a handful to restrain sometimes." He gave Naruto a bow. "I hope that your father will be understanding." Naruto suddenly realized they knew who he was.

Naruto threw his hands up waving them in front of his face. "Don't worry about it!" He grinned causing the older man to smile weakly at him.

"I will have one of my men walk you back to your hotel." The jounin offered.

"That is OK. I can find my own way." Naruto politely replied before he made his way from the summit of the cliff. When Naruto was out of sight from the men on the top, he braced himself against one of the stone walls that lined the path he was on. His hands were shaking from the experience. He had never felt such killing intent than he had right then. His back slid down the coarse stone until his butt hit the ground.

Naruto sat for a few more minutes regaining himself before trying to continue back to the hotel. "I see you met an ally of ours." A familiar voice caused Naruto to look down the path.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto got over the shock of seeing his teacher before a blush spread over his face. "I'm, uh," Naruto stammered.

"I give orders for a reason, Naruto." The gray haired jounin took a seat next to Naruto.

"I know. I was just bored. I needed to get out." Naruto tried to explain himself but the more he talked the stupider he sounded.

Kakashi let out a very loud sigh as he shook his head. "Well, you had your first run in with a person that wanted you dead because you didn't follow orders. I hope next time you will think of this."

"Of course!" Naruto nodded his head vigorously. Naruto noticed that the man that ordered Gaara to stop walked around the corner.

"I hope that there will be an understanding, Kakashi-dono." The man bowed to Kakashi, who returned the gesture with a smile.

"Do not worry, Baki-san. We will be discrete." Kakashi reassured the Suna jounin. Baki bowed once more before he left Naruto and Kakashi alone. Kakashi ushered Naruto to his feet and the two returned to the hotel.

"I'm sorry, Kakashi-sensei." Naruto said as they approached Kakashi's room. Kakashi gave him a smile under his mask before walking into the room and silently closing it behind him. Naruto let out a sigh before continuing down the hall. He reached for the doorknob, but something caught his attention from the corner of his eye. He looked down the dark hallway to see Hinata was looking at him from her door. She wasn't standing in the hallway, but the light reflecting from her light lavender eyes was unmistakable. Naruto's hand hovered above the doorknob before he clenched his fist and walked down the hall to her room. As he turned he heard Hinata gasp, but she didn't close her door.

"N-Naruto-kun?" She opened the door just enough so that her head could be seen.

"Hinata-chan." He smiled at her as he inched his way closer to the door. He was nervous about this, but he had been feeling weird around her for a few days now. Something just made him want to be around her.

"Are you OK?" Her sweet voice broke him from his thoughts and he smiled at her.

"I am now." His soft words made a fierce blush appear on her face. Hinata's grip on the door faded and the door moved opened a few more inches revealing that she was just wearing a over sized teeshirt. Her exposed legs made Naruto blush and turn his back to her. At first Hinata didn't understand why he turned from her, but when she remembered what she was wearing her face turned completely red.  
"Sorry, Naruto-kun!" She moved her body so that it was hidden behind the door.

"Good night, Hinata-chan." Naruto didn't turn around to say it. His face was red as a lobster as he entered his own room. He kicked off his sandals again and crawled into bed. It had been one strange night.

* * *

It had taken about a day for the wound on Asuma's leg to heal up enough for him to feel comfortable to fight with it. His team was currently at the bridge that was going to connect the Land of Waves to the main land guarding Tazuna. With the injuries that Momochi Zabuza had sustained, it was going to be awhile before he would be able to fight again, but the boy that rescued him was unhurt. His ability to make one handed seals added problems to the situation as well.

The name of the boy wasn't know, but Asuma knew he had a unique ability. Perhaps even a bloodline. The black haired man stood outside of Tazuna's house with a cigarette hanging from his mouth. He would have to kill Zabuza before he could threaten the old man again. Letting out a sigh, the Konoha jounin heard his team arguing over something as they approached the house with Tazuna between them. Sakura and Kiba were bickering while it appeared that Sasuke was attempting to keep an eye on their surroundings. At least one of them was apparently remembering the mission.

"Kiba!" Asuma called out catching the attention of the boy. With his argument with Sakura interrupted, he jogged his way to his sensei. "I need your help with something." Asuma pulled him to the side away from the prying ears of his pinked haired teammate.

"What's up, sensei?" Kiba leaned against a tree as Asuma fiddled with one of his trench knives.

"Do you remember the scent of Zabuza?" The jounin asked as he spun the knife around on his fingers.

"Of course! I couldn't forget that bastard." Kiba gave a toothy grin and Akamaru let out a small growl at the mention of the name.

"Where is he?" Asuma caught the knife in his hands before making eye contact with his student.

"It would be hard to just tell you, I could lead you though." Kiba gulped. He had never seen his laid back sensei so serious about anything.

Asuma thought for a moment. "We have very little choice I guess. This became at least an A-rank mission with the addition of Zabuza, and I wanted to leave you guys out of the fight." Asuma took a long puff from his cigarette before throwing it on the ground. "We leave tomorrow morning." The jounin walked off to tell the rest of his team the plan. Sasuke wasn't very happy that he was being left out, but Asuma soothed his ego by telling him that his the other boy attacked he would be the only one that could stand up to him. Sakura supported anything her sensei decided.

* * *

The rays of the sun were just starting to fill the sky as Kakashi and team 6 met up at the gate of Suna to escort the merchant back to Konoha. It was going to be a long trip back, it would probably take almost two days to just make it across the desert. Kakashi went over the course he had plotted out the night before. He had marked every oasis between Suna and the boarder of the Land of Fire and they would attempt to hit them all.

The three teens were dressed extremely light. Hinata wore a white tank top with a pair of tan shorts on that ended mid thigh. Shikamaru had a fishnet shirt on with his own pair of shorts on. Naruto had a gray teeshirt on and a pair of brown shorts. Kakashi was the only one wearing his normal attire.

"Make sure your canteens are filled. We leave in ten minutes." Kakashi reminded his team before he went to talk to the man they were escorting.

"What do you want?" The merchant was preparing his wagon.

"Remember, you are not to break the law the Yondaime put in place." Kakashi said in a low voice. His threat was clear.

"I understand. I won't even say anything to that demon." The man whispered before he turned from Kakashi. The gray haired jounin let out a sigh as he walked back to his team. Idiots and their petty grudges. Naruto didn't pick to have the kyuubi sealed in him, but he would pay for it the rest of his life it seemed. Kakashi observed his team as they talked amongst themselves. Slowly it seemed that Naruto and Hinata were growing closer. Shikamaru was being more talkative then his normal self. At least it seemed that the younger generation wasn't being swayed by the hatred of the adults.

Kakashi turned to see their client pacing back and forth nervously next to his wagon. He appeared ready to leave. "Hey!" He called out to his team. The three of them jogged over to him. "We are leaving. We will be protecting the client from anything, but we will walk in shifts. Two people walking with the wagon, and two people riding in the back resting. Six hour shifts. Naruto and Hinata will be one shift, and me and Shikamaru will be the other."

Kakashi explained that him and Shikamaru would be walking first leaving Naruto and Hinata alone in the back of the wagon. It was a small wagon with not much room, but there was enough for two people to sit some what comfortably. Naruto and Hinata climbed into the wagon while the owner of it glared at them. When they got seated next to each other on one side of the wagon, Kakashi and Shikamaru threw their bags into the back, and they started to walk as the wagon pulled out of the village.

Naruto let out a yawn. Staying out that night wasn't the best thing he could have done. That red head, Gaara, was going to kill him or try. Hinata had been awake when he got back, and he could see the black bags under her eyes as a sign she probably didn't get much sleep either.

"Hinata-chan?" Naruto whispered not sure if she was sleep.

Slowly her face looked up at him. "Yes?" She let out a small yawn and rubbed her eye.

"Why were you awake last night when I came back?" He asked.

"I heard you go you and..." She looked away. "I was worried about you, Naruto-kun."

"Worried about me?" He asked with genuine surprise in his voice. "You could have come with me! I went to this place with a great view of the village!" Naruto smiled at her. Hinata blushed at him. Naruto had grown used to her blushing around him. Her body language used to make him nervous that he had upset her some how, but now he just knew she was extremely nervous. Not that Naruto wasn't nervous either. With her leaning on his shoulder, his face was red as a lobster, and his heart was beating so fast he thought it was going to jump out of his chest.

The wagon was fairly cramped and it caused their bodies to be very close, which just added to the red shade of Naruto's face. Hinata found her head resting on Naruto's shoulder as they rode in the back of the wagon. Naruto didn't seem to mind that she had her head on him, so she squirmed a little bit to get comfortable before she closed her eyes and quickly fell asleep.

* * *

**A/N: Next chapter should be out faster, but I can't make any promises.**


	6. Chapter 5

**A/N: It's been freaking forever since I updated, but that's how it goes. I hope I didn't lose any of you with the delay. Enjoy the chapter.**

Chapter 5

The change was slow but noticeable. Trees became more frequent. More wildlife appeared around them. It was nice. The change from the dry deserts of the Land of Wind to the lush forests of the Land of Fire was slow, but to Naruto it was the best thing he had seen in days. Except Hinata-chan, of course. For two days team 6 traded shifts while walking back to Konoha, and over that time Naruto and Hinata had become more accustom to being near each other. They were both quiet at first, but now they laughed at talked for the entire time. The first good news of the day came in the form of a small stream. Kakashi called for the wagon to stop and jumped from the back.

"Another mile and we will be back in the Land of Fire." He told the client they were protecting. Not like he needed it though. Over the whole trip, they hadn't even seen another person.

"Kakashi-sensei?" Hinata wiped the sweat from her forehead. While it wasn't quite as hot as the desert, it was hot enough to sweat just standing around. "Are we stopping for the night?" Kakashi glanced up at the sun, there was about two hours of light left if he judged it correctly.

"I think that sounds good.." Kakashi told her causing the girl to nod. Naruto had just walked back to hear the news, he had been filling up everyone canteens in the stream. Naruto stood next to Hinata as Kakashi explained what was going on to their client. Every once in awhile the large man would look around the tree line, then quickly glance at Naruto. It happened every few minutes, Naruto was wary of the man now. Over the entire trip he hadn't said a word to the blond. All those things combined with the way he acted before had Naruto on edge.

"Are you sure we should stop, shinobi-san? We are close to the boarder, perhaps we should just make it to the other side before calling it a day." The client was oddly polite in the way he spoke.

Kakashi thought for a moment before he agreed. "Yes, that is a good point. Very well, we will continue to the boarder." Naruto and Hinita nodded as they took up positions around the wagon.

The wagon started to pull away again as Kakashi climbed into the back to continue resting from his shift with Shikamaru. Naruto walked on the left side of the wagon just behind it, it was mostly because he didn't want the man to look at him.

"Naruto?" Kakashi called out as he stuck his head out from behind the curtain that hung over the opening in the wagon.

"Yeah?" Naruto walked towards the wagon.

"You haven't been yourself since we left. Something the matter?" Kakashi asked. It was clear to the older man that something was bothering Naruto.

"It's nothing." Naruto smiled at him. It wasn't his normal smile. It was a mask.

"What is it?" Kakashi looked at Naruto unflinching.

"Well... It's the client. He gives me weird looks, doesn't talk to me. Makes me think that I did do something to him." Naruto explained in a low whisper so the man sitting a few feet away didn't over hear.

A noticeable amount of anger appeared on Kakashi's face before it faded as he smiled. "It's nothing to worry about." Kakashi looked to the other side of the wagon, Hinata was kicking a rock as she walked. "Why don't you go talk to Hinata? We are getting closer to the boarder, I'm sure nothing is going to happen." Naruto's face brightened instantly. He quickly thanked the gray haired man before he jogged over to Hinata.

"Naruto-kun!" She gasped as he jumped next to her. "Aren't you suppose to be watching your side?"

"Kakashi-sensei said it was OK if we walked together because of how close we were to the boarder." Naruto gave her a grin. Behind them Kakashi watched the two teens. It was clear as day to anyone that they were close. The sound of the hyper blond could be heard from inside of the wagon as he explained to Hinata about his run in with a few of the Suna shinobi. That was another thing that worried Kakashi. Naruto's run in with Gaara the son of the Kazekage. He knew that Naruto wasn't stupid enough to start a fight with him, but the fact that he was attacked could be enough for the council to want to shatter the alliance.

"That redheaded guy was strange. He said, 'You are like me.'" Naruto explained to Hinata.

"If he attacked you for no reason, he is nothing like you!" Hinata exclaimed. Her words caused the man leading the wagon to cough and glare at the two. Naruto didn't catch notice of it, but Hinata caught the attention of the man. Her pale eyes glared at him causing him to panic.

"Don't you look at me with those weird eyes!" He shouted at her. His voice was covered in fear.

"Don't you glare at Naruto-kun, he's never done anything to you!" Hinata shouted back. It took Naruto by surprise at the tone of her voice. "You've been giving Naruto-kun those weird looks the whole trip. I haven't say anything, but now you've made me mad!" She shouted at the man as she walked towards the wagon where he rode.

"Listen little girl. These looks are for a reason." His voice was low. Hinata narrowed her eyes before turning from him in disgust. Naruto put a hand on Hinata's shoulder and pulled her away from the man. The wagon kept moving as Naruto stood with here.

"Hinata-chan?" Naruto moved so that his face could see hers as it looked at the ground. "You OK?" Hinata looked at him and all her anger faded, for a second.

"I can't believe him!" She whipped her head around and started to walk back towards the wagon when she was stopped by Kakashi.

"What is all the commotion?" The gray haired jounin asked as he held Hinata by her wrist.

"It's nothing, Kakashi-sensei." Naruto stepped between Hinata and the wagon with a pleading look in his eyes. Hinata smiled at him and nodded. Kakashi let go of her wrist and walked back to the wagon. Naruto led Hinata away from the view of the man they were protecting, although more and more he was starting to not care if the man was attacked or not. Time passed slowly as they walked down the dirt road towards the board of the Land of Fire.

After about hour the river that divided the two countries came into view. The large building that offered the only way onto the bridge to cross required for anyone entering to pass through the check point. The wagon came to a halt, and Kakashi jumped from the back to talk to the proper people to get past the bridge. It would be a few minutes and it gave the rest of the team a few more minutes to themselves.

"Sleep well, Shika?" Naruto asked the boy as he nearly fell out of the back of the wagon yawning.

"No." He simply stated before leaning against a tree that was near the building.

Stupid little children. They had no idea the pain that the demon had caused this village. It was sickening to see that beast running around acting like a child. How that little girl could defend the fox was beyond anything he knew. He would get what was coming to him. He reached into is pack once more to reach for the scroll. The instructions were simple enough, but he did have doubts if they would succeed. It worried him to think of the reaction that the village would have if they knew he was involved.

The man watched as the weird eyed girl, the lazy boy, and the demon talked amongst themselves. He never bothered to learn there names, he really didn't care. He hated that boy. Hate wasn't even a strong enough word. He wished everything in the world that was bad onto him, and soon he would pay. He would pay dearly. He slid the scroll back into his pack that rested on the floor of the wagon as the stupid gray haired one walked back. While he certainly didn't look strong, he had feelings that he was. They assured him that he wouldn't be able to stop it.

"We will be heroes." He remembered the man telling him as he handed him the scroll. Heroes. Not to the Hokage. They would be lucky if the Hokage didn't kill them in anger himself. As much as he respected the forth, he was a fool for believing that boy was anything but a demon.

"Naruto!" The stupid gray head called out, and the demon ran over to him like a pet dog or fox. The man smirked at his own joke. The one eyed idiot was issuing orders to the stupid brats before he turned his attention to the man. He walked over and explained that they had been cleared to walk through to the Land of Fire. Tonight they would either be heroes or traitors. He tried to put the latter out of his mind as he got on the drivers seat of the wagon.

XXX

Asuma took one last puff of his cigarette before he threw it on the ground and stomped on it to put the ember out. Kiba's nose turned up as his sensei blew out the smoke. Cigarettes were bad enough for regular people, but for someone with the nose of Kiba they were the worst things in the world. The smell quickly passed as the two men and a dog approached a small building on a still river. Voices could be heard inside of the building. Kiba's ears picked up on Zabuza, his voice sounded strained. The boy that had carried the missing-nin away could be heard too.

"They are in there." Kiba whispered as he tapped Asuma on the shoulder. The older man gave the boy behind him a nod before he readied himself. "There are three more in there though." Kiba told him before the jounin went rushing in.

"Who?" The Sarutobi turned his head to look at his student.

"Don't know. I don't recognize the scent." Asuma turned his head back towards the house as Kiba finished.

"We wait it out." Asuma whispered. Kiba nodded as he placed a hand on the head of Akamaru. Kiba sniffed the air every few minutes to make sure that their target was still in the build. It was another hour before the three others left the building. Two appeared to be samurai and one was a short man in a suit. He looked angry. Really angry. He furiously shouted back into the building as he held his wrist in apparent pain. A few moments later everything quieted down again. Asuma waited even now. This had to be perfect or they would fail.

Kiba sat nervously behind the jounin not really sure of what his part would be from now on. He knew that Zabuza was far out of his league, and the boy that showed up appeared to be as well. Kiba's thoughts were confirmed when Asuma turned to him.

"Wait here. If it goes bad, run back and tell Sasuke and Sakura what happened." Asuma ordered as he silently made his approach. Kiba watched as the large man made his way towards the house. Wasit deep in water he slowly crossed the river until he was next to a window. He pulled a knife from his side and used the reflection to look in the window. Zabuza was in a small bed wrapped in bandages. The boy wasn't in the room. It was now or never.

Asuma placed an explosive tag on the wall just below the window and made his way to a safe distance. After about ten seconds, the tag detonated and blew a massive hole in the wall. The once sleeping Zabuza was showered in fragments of wood. Asuma rushed in the room and dove at the confused missing-nin. Zabuza saw was the trench knives of Asuma tearing into his chest before a large fist filled his vision and everything when black. Asuma let out a grunt as he stepped off the bed. Something was off.

"Hehe." A echoing voice filled the room. "I knew you had been hiding in the bushes since you arrived. That brat you are with needs to control his emotions." Asuma cursed as he ran to the opening in the wall. Kiba wasn't in the spot he had left him in.

"Zabuza-sama." Asuma spun around to see the boy that rescued the older man holding Kiba by the back of his belt. The boy and his dog were unconscious.

"Well done, Haku!" Zabuza let out a hardy laugh. Asuma narrowed his eyes before disappearing. The boy, Haku, had no time to react at the sudden burst of speed. Asuma lunged a knife into his shoulder and cut the belt that he was holding Kiba by. The unconscious teen fell from his hand, but before he hit the ground Asuma had grabbed him and disappeared again.

"Impressive speed." Haku commented as he removed the kunai from his shoulder.

"Getting careless, Haku?" The real Zabuza revealed himself. His true body had been in a bucket in the form of water. Before the younger boy could answer, Asuma appeared again in a flash. Both of his trench knives in hand, he drove both of them into the stomach of Zabuza. The look on his face was enough to tell Asuma this was the real one. Asuma pinned the other man to the wall as Haku looked on feeling helpless. A lifeless body of Zabuza fell to the ground as Asuma moved his attention to the order person in the room. Haku was frozen from the shock of the only person alive that cared for him dying.

"Are you going to kill me?" Haku's voice was quiet. Amusa was taken back by the question. What kind of shinobi asked his attacker if he was going to kill him?

"That depends on what benefits there are to sparing your life." Asuma pulled a cigarette from his pocket and put it to his lips. Basically snapping his fingers a flame erupted from the tip and lit the cigarette.

"We were hired by a man named Gato to kill the bridge builder." Haku offered.

"Where is he?" Asuma took a long puff from the cigarette before blowing the smoke out as he spoke.

"I can lead you there." Haku's eyes wandered to the body of Zabuza once more. The only person alive that seemed to care about him was dead, it was hard to fathom. Asuma watched the face of the scared boy closely, it seemed as though he was completely broken from Zabuza dying.

"We will return to where we are staying to drop my student off before we go have a talk with this Gato." Asuma dropped the cigarette on the floor before stepping on it to smother the ember. The boy's face seemed to brighten when he heard that, but there was still a distance look in his eyes.

The jounin jumped from the house into the waist deep water and walked to where he had set the unconscious Kiba. The large man threw the teen over his shoulder and beckoned for his prisoner to follow. It took an hour at the slow pace they had to set to return to Tazuna's house. The jounin had Haku wait out of sight until he dropped Kiba off, he didn't want any unnecessary fights to occur.

"Sensei?!" Sakura jumped to her feet as Asuma walked through the door of the house with Kiba in his arms. She frantically cleared the sofa and Asuma laid the unconscious boy down.

"What happened?" Sasuke asked his sensei.

"I was careless." The jounin replied.

"Why is the fake ANBU outside?" The question startled Asuma.

Asuma leveled his gaze on the Uchiha. "The other man is dead. He is leading me to the person that hired them."

"What if its a trap?!" Sakura looked up from tending to her injured teammate.

"That boy may be strong, but he isn't in my league." Asuma's eyes moved over the three children before him. "Stay here. If I'm not back in two hours, send for help from Konoha." He took one last look at Kiba before he walked from the house. Haku stood quietly outside when he appeared.

"Are you ready?" He asked and received a nod from the older man before they both took off running.

XXX

Shikamaru watched the small fire with a look of boredom on his face, but he always looked bored. Naruto was off getting more fire wood, Hinata was preparing some food for dinner, and Kakashi was sitting under a tree reading his book. The client was near his wagon looking over a scroll he had read several times. Shikamaru prided himself on his ability to "read underneath the underneath" so something seemed off, and after Naruto still hadn't returned from gathering firewood, it appeared he was right.

"Kakashi-sensei?" He heard Hinata's voice break his thoughts as she spoke to their sensei.

"Yes?" He poked his nose over the top of his book looking at the girl with his one eye.

"Naruto still isn't back." The insecureness on her voice was easy to hear. The jounin's eye moved across the camp seeing that he hadn't returned yet. His eye seeming moved on his own to the man they were protecting, who was pacing back and forth by his cart. Kakashi rosed to his feet and in complete silence walked to the client. When the he turned around to do another round of pacing, he came face to face with an angry looking Kakashi.

"May I help you?" He asked as his eyes never made contact with the jounin.

"One of my students hasn't come back, I am going out to look for him. These two will be watching over you." He gestured towards Hinata and Shikamaru.

"Fine, whatever." He spun from Kakashi before he returned to his wagon. Kakashi added the way he acted to his mental checklist. The jounin gave a quick talked to his remaining two students before he ran off into the woods.

XXX

Naruto struggled against the ropes that were holding his hands. Whoever it was that tied him up was smart enough to at least tie him up so his hands were apart. It had been a while since he had been taken by surprise when he was attacked while collecting some firewood. They must be shinobi or missing-nin, because he hadn't heard them coming. The bag over his head currently didn't make it any easier to see who it was.

He was current draped over someone shoulder as they walked. They were still in the forest, he thought at least. The sound of cracking branches and the crunch of leaves on the ground gave that away.

"We stop here." With that Naruto was thrown to the ground in a not so friendly manner. It was the first time the young genin heard them speak.

"Now what?" Another asked, there was a hint of fear in his voice.

"We do what we came here to do. Take the bag off." With that a hand gripped the bag and a bit of his hair and ripped it off. Naruto grunted in pain as some of his hair was pulled out too. In the darkness, he couldn't make out the faces of his captors. It was a moonless night with an overcast.

"We want to see your face before we kill you." The man all but spat in his face. "Demon." For the first time, Naruto felt fear.

"Quiet." Another voice snapped. "We will all get a turn." Naruto felt a hand grab his hair again forcing him to look to his right. He could feel the breath of one of the men on his face.

"What do you want with me?" His voice was quiet, it was dripping in terror.

"We want you to feel pain for the pain you have caused us." With a hard push, Naruto's head was slammed back into the tree that the rest of his body was leaning against. He cried out in pain again.

"Did that hurt?!" Someone shouted at him and threw a kick into his side. The blond fell over in a heap. "You know nothing of pain. How much pain do you think my father felt when you killed him?!" Another kick to his stomach as he laid on the ground.

**They are going to kill you.**

Naruto thought the voice was just another one of his captors as he laid on the ground receiving another round of kicks to various parts of his body.

**They know that you fear them.**

All the other noise around him seem to drown out as the voice continued.

**They know **_**nothing**_** of fear.**

With his eyes closed, Naruto no long felt pain of his beating. '_Am I dying?_" He thought as his world drifted into darkness.

**No, you are not dying. I will not allow that to happen.**

The voice was louder now. It was coming from in front of him. Naruto slowly opened his eyes to a very different world. He stood in front of a massive gate. Water was up to his ankle, and there was a dense fog covering the ground just below his waist.

"What is this?" He asked the voice that came from in front of him.

**This is your mind, mortal.**

"My mind? What are you talking about?"

**I have been trying to contact you for years, but have been unsuccessful.**

"Who are you?" Naruto asked.

**Who am I? **The voice chuckled. **I am death.**

Naruto found himself walking backwards away from the gate as a pair of eyes as big as him appeared in the darkness. "Am I dreaming?"

The voice barked in laughter. **I assure you, those who are attacking you right now will wish this was a dream when we are done with them.**

"What do you mean?" Naruto gathered a bit of courage to walk towards the eyes.

**I am the Kyuubi. I was sealed in your body when you were a newborn infant.**

"That's impossible! The Sandaime killed you!" Naruto shouted causing the demon to laugh again.

**I cannot be killed by mortal hands, whelp. No, your foolish Hokage sacrificed himself to seal me in your body.** **There is a seal on your stomach. Surely you have noticed it when you channel your chakra. It is the seal that keeps me imprisoned.**

"Why does everyone say the Kyuubi was killed then!?" Naruto refused to believe this.

**That is something you will have to find out after this.**

"How are you going to help me get out of this? How do I know I'm not already dead?"

**If you were dead, we wouldn't be talking right now. Shut up and listen while I explain. I can give you some of my power if you just ask for it. It will be but a fraction of my power because your pathetic body couldn't handle it all.**

"What do you want in return?"

**I want you to live, human. If you die, I die. Now, wake up and show those men what it is to be truly afraid.**

Naruto's eyes slowly opened as another kick flew into his stomach. The blow hardly registered to him as he readjusted to everything around him.

"Enough of this. Let's just kill him and be done with it. No doubt Kakashi has already realized he was missing for this long." The kicking stopped long enough for Naruto to sit himself up. It was a strange feeling. There was no pain at all when he shouldn't even be conscious. He felt refreshed. There was a lust for destruction in his mind. These men would know fear.

"Fine. Kill him." A voice said and one of them started towards Naruto. In his new state, he could see as if it was the middle of the day. The man with a kunai in his hand stopped dead in his tracks as a low growl escaped the throat of the genin.

"What the hell was that?" They all turned to face the demon. The growl became louder until a full fledged roar came from Naruto. With the pure strength given to him by the Kyuubi, Naruto ripped his arms free of the rope that was holding him. The eyes of the men around him widened just before he rushed forward with speed like they had never seen as he slammed the man directly in front of him into a tree. The collision caused the tree of snap in half like a twig before Naruto grabbed the man's leg and threw him with all his might into the darkness.

Naruto turned to the rest of them with the look of hatred in his eyes. A red aura surrounded him as he let out another ear shattering roar and enough chakra to push the men back. Naruto leapt forward slashing his hands at the face of the man closest to him. The force of the blow was so hard that the man's head spun around snapping his neck.

"You really are a demon!" The last one shouted causing Naruto to turn his attention to him. With his fangs barred, Naruto launched himself at the last one standing slashing his hands. When Naruto had finished with him, his face and arms were covered in the blood of the man, who laid motionless on the ground.

**Well done, human.**

Naruto shook his head to get rid of the voice. The chakra that was following through his body faded and he felt very weak all the sudden. Just before his body crashed to the ground, he felt a pair of arms wrap around him and a familiar face appeared in his vision.

XXX

Kakashi held the unconscious Naruto in his arms as he started walking back to the camp. Fifteen minutes ago, the jounin's heart nearly stopped when he felt the chakra released in this area. He knew it well. He knew it from twelve years ago. His first thought was the seal had broken and the Kyuubi had been released. He arrived on the scene just in time to see Naruto slash the last of his attackers and fall to the ground. He moved in quickly and caught the blond before he hit the ground. The boy was seemingly unharmed, but there were some abrasions on his wrists. The splintered rope on the ground near him was a sign that he was tied up.

Before Kakashi started back to the camp, he checked the bodies of those around Naruto. The one he attacked last was lying in a pool of his own blood. A few feet from him was a man whose head appeared to be on backwards. If the bruise on the side of his face was any indication, a punch caused his neck to break. A broken tree caught the jounin's attention next and his eyes moved over the forest. A slight movement caught his attention.

Kakashi's eye widened as he approached the movement. A man was propped against the tree, blood covering his chin and much of his shirt, but the most surprising thing was he was wearing a Konoha hitai-ate.

"You are still alive." Kakashi voice was cold enough to freeze water.

The man let out a laugh that sounded more like coughing. "The demon took us by surprise." He spit out more blood.

"Naruto is NOT a demon." Kakashi's voice caused the man to gulp.

"He has a spell on all of you. He just looks like a child." The man coughed out as Kakashi knelt before him. "We were suppose to be heroes. Everything had gone to plan as well. Even that foolish old man did his part."

"What old man? Our client? He was involved in this?" Kakashi stood and turned from the man.

"Yes, he was involved. We contacted him when he was still in Suna telling him we were going to strike just inside of the boarder. He was to ask for you to stop here." He called out as Kakashi gathered Naruto in his arms.

The glare that Kakashi gave the injured man was enough for him to drop his arrogant attitude. "He will be dealt with."

Kakashi started to walk away with the voice of the traitor calling out to him. "You are just leaving me? What about my injuries?!" He pleas fell on deaf ears as Kakashi ignored him and continued walking back to the camp.

Naruto appeared to be unharmed other than what appeared to be chakra exhaustion. Kakashi was deep in his thoughts during the walk back. Would the client still be there when he got back? Another thought cross his mind and he sped up through the forest. What if there were more of them? Hinata and Shikamaru could be in trouble.

XXX

As genin, the two left to guard the old man weren't experts at sensing chakra, but even they could feel the power that was unleashed in the forest. Hinata looked directly at Shikamaru when she felt it. The lazy genin's eyes were on her as well.

"You felt that right?" He asked, his voice was trembling.

"Yeah." She was quiet, reverting back to her old self.

"What could it be?" Shikamaru walked towards Hinata and stood next to her as she gazed in the direction of the source.

"I don't know. I just hope Naruto-kun and Kakashi-sensei are ok." Her eyes looked into the darkness of the forest. She activated her bloodline limit to try and get a better look. A visible aura of red chakra streamed into the air that originated nearly a mile away.

"What do you see?" Shikamaru noticed her eyes.

"Evil. The chakra is pure evil. It is streaming into the air. There is a lot of it." Hinata told him. The spent the next several minutes watching the forest intently before they decided that standing there wouldn't make Kakashi or Naruto come back any faster, so they returned to their duties. Hinata was growing more and more anxious the longer they waited for Kakashi to return. To her and Shikamaru's relief, the chakra they both had felt was gone now. The man they were protecting also seemed to be more nervous then before.

Hinata busied herself with preparing the food for dinner while Shikamaru kept his eyes on the tree line searching not only for a threat, but also for their sensei. It was then when the lazy genin saw Kakashi walking out of the trees and in his arms was an unconscious Naruto. Shikamaru ran to his sensei immediately.

"Take him. He isn't hurt, just chakra exhaustion." Kakashi handed the boy to Shikamaru. Hinata had heard a voice and looked up to see Kakashi handing Naruto to her other teammate. She dropped the pan she was holding sending it crashing into the fire before she ran to the blond. She got to him just as Shikamaru was lying him down on the ground. She pulled off a sweatshirt she was wearing and put it under his head as a pillow.

"Naruto-kun..." She muttered under her breath as she stroked his hair.

"You were involved in this?" Kakashi whispered to the client as he stood in front of him. If looks could kill, the man would have died when Kakashi first laid eyes on him.

"W-what are you talking about?" He stammered.

"One of them told me, you were involved in an attempt to kill Naruto." Kakashi's words caused the man to shrink before him.

"They told me they would kill that demon." He spat in the direction of Naruto. Kakashi returned the insult with a blow to his stomach causing the man to fly back into his wagon before crashing to the ground.

"That is my student you are talking about." Kakashi shouted as he walked towards the man grabbing him by the collar before lifting him off the ground. The commotion caused Hinata and Shikamaru to look over to see Kakashi holding the man three feet off the ground by his neck. They suddenly had a frighten realization on just how strong Kakashi was. Here he was holding a man that weighted over 300 pounds in the air with one hand, and he wasn't even struggling.

"What are you going to do to me?" Tears streaked down his face as he spoke.

"I would kill you right now, but I will leave your punishment to the Hokage." Kakashi told him before throwing him back into the wagon. His head crashed into one of the wheels and he fell unconscious. With all the action going on, no one seemed to notice that Naruto's eyes had opened. He watched as Hinata stroked his hair as she watched something behind her.

"Hey, Hinata-chan." His voice cracked as he talked. His throat was very dry.

Hinata jumped when she heard her named called and spun her head to look at Naruto. He was smiling up at her. "Naruto-kun!" She gasped. The blond reached for her hand and held it as she continued to stroke his hair.

"You OK?" He asked her after closing his eyes enjoying her touch.

"Am I OK? You are the one that was unconscious!" She stopped petting him as he cracked one eye open and had a grin on his face.

"I'll be fine." His eye closed again and drifted to sleep again.


End file.
